Kim Morrissey writes:
'Dialectics' isn't a found poem, although it has the sound of a letter home. Found poems are poems made from words and phrases that are already written - they are literally 'found' within passages of prose.
'Riel's Address to the Jury' is a found poem. Louis Riel made a 45 minute address to the jury; the poem takes words and phrases from that 45 minute speech, and reduces it to the poem you see – by doing so, it intensifies the emotion. This technique is useful when you are creating a poem using an historical persona. If you use the actual words of the person, you are certain you are using words and images they would have used. Even though the reader may not know what happened to Louis Riel (pronounced 'Ree - el'] after his address to the jury, the poem seems to end on a note of foreboding. When you know he was hanged for treason, the words resonate even more.
[Leona comments: A very different approach to the found poem is demonstrated in Elizabeth's 'Across Amsterdam', which was 'found' within Duncan's poem 'InAmsterdam. A Nonagon'. And Duncan's poem was, in turn, inspired by some poems of mine set in Amsterdam, including one called 'Reflection'.]