Summer is often a time for travel and for making observations about new places and sights.  One of our great traveling pastimes as a family is the noting of unusual words or signs on the highway or in the city.  Sometimes these words become ‘found poems.’  A great website that exploits the art of the ‘found poem’ is the playfully and poetically titled  G.P.S. Global Poetry System.  I can’t remember now how exactly I stumbled on the site, but I found it entertaining and delightful.  The G.P.S. project began with poet Lemn Sissay, artist in residence in London’s Southbank Centre.   Here’s what the website says G.P.S. is about:

Global Poetry System is a Southbank Centre project to explore and map the poetry of the world. It’s based on the idea that poetry is all around us, from gravestones to graffiti, from birthday cards to blogs, in the landscape and in our memories. G.P.S. invites you to take a fresh look at where you are and find the poetry that inspires you. Photograph it, video it, audio record it or write it down – tell the world where it is on the map.

I haven’t tried submitting a ‘found poem’ yet myself, but the site inspired me last year to send my students out into the streets to look for poetry in their surroundings. They came up with some great stuff!  Maybe you and your kids might stumble across something in your travels — a found poem — that you’d like to post to G.P.S.

Today’s Poetry Friday host is Laura at Teach Poetry K-12.  Also, on another note, do check out Corinne’s recent post on a children’s poetry festival to be held in El Salvador in November.

Posted by: Sally | This entry was posted on Friday, August 20th, 2010 at 1:00 am and is filed under Poetry Friday, United Kingdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Tags: Global Poetry System, Lemn Sissay, Poetry Friday, Southbank Centre