Found Poem

A found poem is a type of poem created from words that already exist. People can make found poems from books, magazines, songs, or even advertisements. I created this poem from a Huffington Post article entitled “This Isn’t A Pay ‘Gap,’ It’s A Freaking Black Hole." It was written by Emily Peck and published on 4/10/18.

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Pay Equality

it’s Equal Pay Day

the day women “catch up”

to what men made in 2017

at Goldman Sachs in the U.K.

women earn 55.5 percent less than men

48 percent less at Barclays

36 percent less at HSBC

when it comes to equal pay

women aren’t just facing a “gap”

they’re staring down

a vast, dystopic hole of inequity

far too many women and men

think the reason women aren’t

making it up the ladder

lies with women themselves

they don’t “lean in”

women are not aggressive enough

dialing down ambition

because they want to have a family

women who become mothers

face huge disadvantages at work

they have to devote time to child-rearing

women leave because they’re sexually harassed

or quit because they’re not promoted

by the boys’ club at the top

because of stereotypes

men in charge hold certain beliefs about

what women want out of their careers

they don’t bother checking to make sure

beliefs line up with reality

at JPMorgan in the U.K.

78 percent of top-paying jobs

are held by men

many of those men have children

but somehow they’re making it work

women don’t stand a chance at pay equality

if they’re not making it

to the top