Found poetry, the art of reworking existing texts into new creative expressions, has emerged as a potent medium for activists to dismantle and interrogate systems of power. By extracting words from speeches, legal documents, and media narratives, creators transform language meant to control or marginalize into a rallying cry for justice. This practice not only exposes the contradictions of authority but also amplifies voices often silenced by institutional dominance.

The Alchemy of Found Poetry: Repurposing the Words of the Powerful

At its core, found poetry dismantles the notion that official discourse is neutral. Activists mine speeches, laws, and news for phrases that reveal hidden agendas, hypocrisies, or systemic oppression. By recontextualizing these texts, they force audiences to confront the realities beneath polished rhetoric.

1. Dissecting Power through Repurposed Speeches

Political speeches, corporate statements, and public addresses are rich sources for found poetry. Activists isolate lines that expose contradictions-such as a leader advocating for unity while signing policies that enforce division. Rearranging these fragments into poetic form highlights the dissonance between words and actions, turning grandiose promises into stark critiques.

For example, a poem might isolate repeated phrases like "security" or "freedom" from a government official's address and juxtapose them with statistics on mass surveillance or voter suppression. The result is a visceral illustration of how language is weaponized to justify systemic inequities.

2. Legislating Truth: Found Poetry in Legal Texts

Laws and court rulings, often dense with jargon, become accessible and charged when repurposed as poetry. Activists extract clauses from discriminatory legislation-anti-abortion bills, immigration bans, or policing laws-and rearrange them to emphasize brutality or illogic. The dry tone of legalese is stripped away, leaving raw, haunting lines that underscore the human cost of policy.

One notable technique is erasure, where poets black out or redact sections of legal documents, leaving only the most incriminating or poignant words visible. This visual and textual act becomes a metaphor for the erasure of marginalized communities, transforming dry statutes into urgent pleas for change.

3. Media as a Mirror: Subverting the Narrative

Media headlines, interviews, and advertisements are ripe for subversion. Activists rework these texts to expose bias, sensationalism, or neglect. A poem might splice quotes from police press conferences with bodycam footage transcripts, or collate contradictory headlines about a protest to illustrate media complicity in upholding power structures.

One powerful form involves creating blackout poems from newspaper pages. By highlighting specific words and obscuring others, artists reframe narratives-turning a story about "crime" into one about "community resilience" or redefining "violence" as "resistance." This act of reclamation challenges audiences to question whose truths are amplified and whose are erased.

The Impact of the Repurposed Word

Found poetry's strength lies in its economy and immediacy. By sampling the language of power, activists bypass the need to craft entirely new arguments, instead leveraging the authority's own voice to dismantle its logic. This strategy is both a tactical and ethical choice: it grounds critique in tangible evidence while democratizing the process of art-making.

• Accessibility: Found poetry requires no formal training, enabling anyone with access to a text to become a critic and creator.

• Irony and Contrast: The clash between original intent and new context generates potent irony, making abstract systems of oppression feel visceral.

• Reclaiming Narratives: Marginalized communities use found poetry to rewrite histories and laws written by those in power, asserting agency over their own stories.

In an era of digital saturation, found poetry offers a way to cut through noise. It turns the language of oppression into a weapon of resistance, proving that the most powerful critiques often lie not in what we create, but in what we choose to reveal.