“Junk” Poems/Found Poems

Found Poetry/”Junk” Poem

Defying flowers

new people

Rising out of the grass

Magic

delicately

filling the garden air

Jill Dailey, 2026

Poetry Friday/”Junk” Poems/Found Poetry

I love garbage, well good-somewhat clean garbage:) If you are a junk journaler, you know! I’ve been junk journaling, upcycled art journaling, for more than five years. The world of ephemera, for me is a creative treasure hunt. Bits of wrappers, boxes, packaging, ticket stubs, fallen apart books and their pages are a joyful invitation into creativity.

This Poetry Friday, I thought I’d share a found poem from a little junk journal. The journal is made from old wrapping paper and many scrappy bits from everyday life found their way onto the page and yes, many of them destined for the trash:)

Happy Poetry Friday! Check out all the beautiful inspiration from this week’s host, Cathy Stenquist: @https://www.cathystenquist.com/post/happy-mother-s-day, as well as, other wonderful Poetry Friday poets linked in her post.

Junk Journals
Handmade art journal papers from a class I took with Tracey Wozniak

16 thoughts on ““Junk” Poems/Found Poems”

  1. Oh my goodness, Jill, I love that we have junk journals in common! Kind of like quilts, they just make HAPPY. 🙂 🙂 Thank you for sharing (and I will send you some pics via email!) xo

    1. Hi Irene, so true and great connection to quilters taking random scraps to make something pretty and practical. You have me thinking more about old quilts as a beautiful tradition of upcycled art:) Oh happy day, love we have junk journaling in common and excited to see your pics!

  2. Jill, your collages are inspiring. I too have a lot of junk and ephemera I collect for junk journals. I don’t do it often enough, so your posts are inspiring me again. Love, love the found poem and flower surrounding it. “Magic / delicately / filling the garden air” Yes, please.

    1. Hi Denise, thank you and yes, collecting all the bits is a great part of the junk journal process. I find I work in little bursts when I find creative time, so I know exactly what you mean:) You’re amazing with your prompt practice and I feel like found poetry has that element, a little bit of a game to find the poem. Appreciate you stopping by and happy creating to you!

  3. Hooray! I can leave a comment. The past few weeks I haven’t seen a way to post a comment. It could be how I logged into the various services. Anyway, you KNOW I love a good junk journal. I’m in a current rabbit hole of junk journals of “Little Golden Books.” Oh, so much fun. And, I love to find poetry in the journals, tuck poetry into journals….viva la junk journals!

    1. Linda, I remember our faces at the retreat when we found out we both enjoyed junk journaling! Librarians and junk journalers unite:) Glad you could post, argh tech,, sometimes and happy to know you’re enjoying Little Golden Books. Yes, hang on for the ride! They are going down the junk journaling rabbit hole. If you run low, I can send you some! Hope you have a wonderful week and fun creative time!

  4. I really want to play more with junk journals! Thanks for the inspiration. Finding “Magic” in the garden of what others may consider trash! I wish we could have a class together.

    1. Hi Margaret, oh, a class would be fun and turning the bits of trash into upcycled art feels close to magic to me too. I share some of my junk journaling on YouTube @jillybeanstudio (free channel) and I love the idea of a class too. Hmmm, thinking about possibilities…Hope you have a wonderful, creative week!

  6. Your journal page is so pretty and I love how you layered color, drawing and texture to give you lovely poem a home. Yay for collage!

    1. Thank you, Cathy and I know we both enjoy collage, all the joy of color play and layering! Also visiting your blog was fun, it is so lovely, as was your Poetry Friday post:) Thanks for stopping by and yay for collage!

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