I Am the Maker of all sweetened possum: poetry found in Scarlet Sister Mary

I Am the Maker of all sweetened possum is the strangely-capitalized, full-color collection of found poetry by james w. moore. Working from the text of Julia Peterkin’s Scarlet Sister Mary, moore has created visually striking poems that acknowledge their source while making new worlds for Peterkin’s words.

Found poetry is a method of creating poems from already existing work; moore’s found poetry acknowledges its source material by creating the poem directly out of a page of text. His work strives to stand out in words and in the visual remaining on the page. Using exacto knives, whiteout, markers, paint, and even cross-stitch, moore’s work has a homemade feel that reflects the source text. In the introduction, he says, there’s a handmade quality to Scarlet Sister Mary. seemingly every interaction happens while someone is making food, or mending garments, or picking crops. i strove to reflect that tactile feeling in my work. i wanted each piece to feel like you can see the marks left behind.

james w. moore took part in Found Poetry Review’s 2013 National Poetry Month initiative – The Pulitzer Remix – where 85 poets each selected a Pulitzer prize winning work of fiction and created a poem for each day of the month. This collection rounds up poems that were created as part of the Pulitzer Remix.