For my found poem, I used the last few lines of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”. If you’ve never read the novel/ don’t remember it well, the last few paragraphs relate to a character named Boo Radley. Boo Radley was a recluse in the town of Maycomb, so much so that the children began imagining who he was, what he does in his house, and make assumptions about the type of person he is. Towards the end of the novel, Scout and Jem (two main characters, siblings), are attacked by a man named Bob Ewell, who, lost his job due to Atticus’ (their father) trial. Ewell had intended to kill the children as revenge towards Atticus, and Boo Radley is the person who saved them.
The novel itself is very shocking and sad, with themes such as racism and injustice being highly prevalent. In the last few pages of the novel, I was becoming angry with the way Boo Radley had been treated all along, despite being an unmasked hero. With the poem, I crossed out the parts where Scout described how Boo Radley was chased by the cops after saving the children. I kept parts where Scout herself recognizes Boo Radley as a person and good human being, and where Atticus finally agrees with her. I included parts like “He … Sat me down” and “His hands were … around me” to establish a sense of love prevailing against the hatred that was so grown into the town of Maycomb. I also included “He would be there all night / in the morning”, to bring about a sense of security within the readers; to feel as though there was some warmth in an atmosphere that was so bitterly cold. Additionally, I included “They chased him … ’cause they didn’t know what he looked like” because it epitomizes the fear that the majority of the town felt toward Boo Radley.
