Find hidden poems in the newspaper

2012: The Year of the Dragon

Chinese New Year.

The Year of the Dragon.

The mythical creature

brings optimism, and

hope for better times.

The dragon—

the most powerful sign

of the zodiac—

delivers energy and prosperity.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

There are poems hidden in your newspaper—if you know how to find them. I set myself the task of finding these poems. In the process, I invented a unique form of poetry. I call it “News Print Poetry.”

It all started when a friend showed me a “black-out” poem. It was composed by taking a written document and using a marker pen to blackout the unwanted words. What remained was the poem. I was intrigued with the idea of a poem emerging from a news story, a poster, a letter from my insurance agent, and other unlikely sources.

I decided to take a slightly different slant, however. Instead of deleting the words I did not want, I would select the words I did want. Instead of obliterating the original topic, I would create a poem using the topic of the story.

I set up a few rules. The title of the poem must be taken from the headline of the story. The words selected from the news story must remain in their original order and no words can be added. I could have free reign with punctuation, and if absolutely necessary, I could change case or tense of verbs or make singular nous plural and vice versa.

I started on Jan. 1 and every day since, without fail, I post a new poem to my blog. (http://newsprintpoetry2012.blogspot.com) The blog is important because it instills discipline. If I feel like skipping a day, I can’t because I have made a public commitment and I don’t want to disappoint my readers.

Some days writing the poem is quick and easy. Other days, I spend hours on it. Sometimes, I have to abandon one or two attempted poems because I just can’t get it to work.

The topics run the gamut of the type of stories you see in newspapers – politics, crime, events, holidays, sports, health, science, education, accidents, food, celebrities, advice, etc. Some of the poems have an important message; some are trifles; some of the poems are serious, some are funny.

You can meet Catherine Giordano at the book launch party for “News Print Poetry 2012: Volume 1 January to March” at the Maitland Public Library at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 29. She will do a multimedia presentation of some of the poems. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided. Details are on her website www.talksallabout.com or from the library. The library prefers that you call to register at 407-647-7700.

Some days, the poems are perfect little gems; they seem to be exactly as I would write them if I had no restrictions at all. Other days, I want to call in “rewrite.”

Writing “News Print Poems” is both fun and challenging. Some people like to do the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle, some people like to do Sudoku, and some others like to do 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles. I like to do “News Print Poetry.” The thrill of struggling to find the poem, and then finally, in a flash of inspiration, seeing the hidden poem as if it had just jumped right off the page, is just as big a thrill as completing a difficult puzzle.

Taken together, the poems will be a retrospective of the year’s events and provide a panoramic and historic view of our society.

Taken individually, each poem provides an inspirational, amusing, and/or poignant view of life.

Catherine Giordano is the author of two other books, “The Poetry Connection”, a collection of poems and “What Ifs, If Onlys, and So Whats,” a collection of essays. Her work has been published in magazines and anthologies. In addition to writing, she does public speaking giving light-hearted life-affirming talks on a variety of subjects.