Click the link to read the colour pdf of the story, “And the Lucky Winner is”.

a3-and-the-lucky-winner-is-pdf

Here is a sample of creating a Found Poem using the short story text. You’ll see, I’ve indicated which page each line comes from, so I’ve used only 16 lines for the first 4 pages.
Remember, you have to be very selective and use only phrases necessary to relay the overall message.

The shameful hidden skill of telekinesis (p1)
Was a burden
Nev’s heliolite continued to spin (p2)
Downward
Nev lay still
Alive
But
“What if he never walks again?” (p3)
The doctor came
Explanations
About spinal cord injuries
New techniques
In the field of nerve regeneration
Insurance?
A quarter of a million dollars
What are we going to do? (p4)

“No, my dear. Said the landlady. Only you.”  

 “What do you mean just me?” Billy asked.

    “Oh dear you are the only one, as I said I’m very picky about whom I let stay,” the old lady stated as she takes a sip of her tea. Appearing to enjoy it very much.

    “May I meet other tenants, if I’m going to live here I’d like to know who is living here with me.” Billy asked in a wondering tone.

    “You need your rest, in the morning.”

    “Ok, well I think I’ll be going to bed now, thanks for the tea.” The young man was feeling quite queasy and decided it was time for some sleep. He assumed it was from a long day of travel. He walked up the stairs to his room. And collapsed onto his bed and fell into a sleep filled with dreams full of monster and blood. When he wakes up, he is still feeling not very good but goes down for breakfast, regardless. All the food tastes of almond which made him feel even worse.

    “How are you feeling this morning? Are you going to work?” The lady asked a gentle smile plastered to her lips.

    “I’m not feeling great, so I think I’ll postpone my meeting.”

    “Whatever you say, Dearie.” She said sweetly.

     Billy staggered up the stairs missing his floor he kept going. He reached the third floor and was hit with a rush of cold air. He comes to his senses a little and realises he shouldn’t be here.

    Wandering around the room are two young men and an array of animals. They were moving like a normal being would, but there were lifeless. Brown eyes were empty and cold. Billy reached out and touched the older looking ones shoulder it was icy cold; his skin was grey and his hair perfectly neat. The man looked at him and smiled and sickly happy one.The boy became scared and rushed out trying to get to his room, quickly. He fell onto his bed pulling the covers to his nose, hoping that sleep could help him forget the horrific scene that was overhead. His dreams were full of lifeless eyes and body’s asking him to join them.

    A loud witchy cackle woke him.”Ahahahah,” as he jumps he sees the sweet lady hovering over him. Suddenly there was a horrid pain of a knife slowly trailing up his abdomen; then everything went foggy. He comes in and out of consciousness to feel horrific pain and the ripping sensation of his organs coming out.

    “Ahh,” Billy screamed and whimpered through the pain. As he came too for the final time, he saw the which murmur some inaudible words and tap him with what felt like a stick. Suddenly everything was gone for Billy, he was empty but still moving. The landlady then sewed him up. Billy got up slowly and walked to the third floor to join the others.

    “I just have to wait for the next one, uhh.” The old women said wistfully before going to get a cup of tea.

     A young man knocks on the door. “Oh come in dearie, do you need a place to stay. Just 5 and 6 pence a night, including breakfast.” The kind old lady said.

    The boy then spoke, “only 5 and 6 pence, I think I’ll have to stop for a stay.” He then saw a guest book and went to write his name in it; he saw only three names.

    “You haven’t had a tenant in 3 years?”

     “No only you, would you like some tea?” The landlady said with a sickly sweet smile plastered on her face.

“No, my dear,” she said. “Only you”…

     He was amazed yet confused on how she was still running the place. He looked around putting the pieces together,

“that’s it I know where I saw those names!” Billy yelled out, “they disappeared in London!”

     Billy started to feel nauseous as he was putting the pieces together. The old lady laughed as Billy felt his eyes roll into his head and blackness filled his vision. Billy woke up in a dark room full of framed body parts mostly men. He recognised the body’s of the two men, but they were so well formed if he didn’t just wake up on a metal table strapped down with dark leather belts he would think they were alive and well. Billy was frightened and vastly struggling to keep calm. He looked around trying to find answers, but every second his eyes were open he became so much more empty inside. He saw two kids; they were wearing funny clothes; he could tell they were German. One boy and one girl with funny looking clothes the boy was labelled H.G., and the girl was G.G.

He was sick to the stomach. This woman was a monster, a monster who is going to kill him. He said his prayers, but it was interrupted by the creeping sound of a door he did not know of before. She was wearing a black lab coat with a black case. He could hear the tools inside hitting each other, but it sounded more horrific than could be explained. He started to ask questions over questions “why?, How?” “Shhh, Your mouth is so beautiful, it would be a shame to have to put an end to its blabbering,” the old bag said to Billy as she turned towards the walls “Do you like my trophy room? (:” she asked with great pride, “Trophy room?” Billy asked with disgust, “this is a room of shame!” “of course, you wouldn’t understand, no one does” she said. Billy was confused. “there’s nothing to understand you kill, you’re a murderer, those men were innocent” Billy was interrupted “nobody’s innocent, nobody.” Billy paused for a second, “you mean to say those two were innocent?” Billy looked at the two children “they’re just kids!” the old lady looked at two, and quickly looked away she started to tear up, “I can not help it they deserved what I did to them, they were greedy.” Billy looked at the lady “oh they were greedy, I had no idea they were greedy.” Billy said with great sarcasm, “if I killed every greedy person I met this world would be one lonely place.” the old lady grabbed a tissue and rubbed her eyes “you don’t know me, you don’t know anything about me.” she said fighting the studders of her cries. “please let me go, I can help you.” Billy said considerably. She swallowed down her tears and made an anger grown “help me, I don’t need your help, or any body’s for that matter.” she reached down to her waist and pulled out a gun and pointed it at him. He closed his eyes and the shot fired.

He felt no pain; he opened his eyes; she had disappeared. His straps were undone. Why? How? He’ll never know.

“Well there goes my interview,” Billy said with a large breath.

“No, my dear. Said the landlady. Only you.”

All of a sudden it feels like he is going to faint. “It must be from the tea” he thought. He goes to the bathroom and throws up the tea. Then he decides to go check in the rooms. He does it quickly and quietly. He finds out that Mr. Temple and Mr. Mulholland are taxidermies and laying quietly in their own room in their bed. Billy heads back down and starts toward his jacket and hat.

She notices that he looks fine and she catches him and asks “What are you doing Mr. Weaver? It is almost time for bed.” He says that he is going for a walk and she says she needs him to bring something to the post office for him and she is gone for a while. She comes back with a pot of boiling potion and tells him to take a sniff but he doesn’t. He holds his breath. Then she pours the potion on him and just then another person knocks on the door. He hears them yelling and pushes open the door. He whips out his cell phone and calls the cops. They get there and she is gone. They go check the upstairs and see the missing guys.

“Goodness gracious!! We found the lost men but just if they could be alive.” one of the cops said[1] . They took the bodies into the back of the cop car. They search around the house for the landlady. They find her in the attic getting all of her taxidermies to bring with her. She gets handcuffed and she has to drop her taxidermies. She gets a lifelong sentence. Billy gets brought to the hospital by that man. On the way they talk about the landlady.

“I am so glad that you came at the right time. I could be dead right now. Thank you so much!” They get to the hospital and after Billy gets treated for burns, and he is going to leave back home. Mr. Weaver asks the man if he wants to have his job that he is trying out for.

He says “Yes thank you! I don’t need this job because I have enough money but I will take it anyway.” Then Mr. Weaver walked to the train, got on and rode away. Back in his town he got back his old job, being as content as he could be. His work buddies were glad to have him back and they were happy that he didn’t get taxadermied.

A few days later on the news it said “Landlady dies after been held in prison for a few days”. Then he heard a knock at the door. He went and opened it and he saw Mr. Mulholland and Mr. Temple standing there. [2]

“Hello.” they said. Mr. Weaver didn’t know what to say! He was speechless. They continued on “We felt that we had to come see you. When the landlady died we came alive and all the animals did too. We have missed everything going on around Bath and we wish to come stay with you for a few days because we heard what happened to you.” Mr. Weaver couldn’t believe his eyes!!     

He said “Well come in and make yourself at home. Even though this isn’t home. Tomorrow I will be at work but you can stay here while I’m gone.” Mr. Weaver showed them to their rooms. They decided to go meet Mr. Weaver’s co-workers. That night they had pumpkin tea. Mr. Weaver thought that his tasted a little weird. Mr. Weaver went to bed feeling a little woozy and as soon as he hit the bed he was asleep. He woke up to feeling nothing and he didn’t know what happened. Mr. Weaver couldn’t move an hour later and he could hear the two guys talking in the kitchen. He wanted to go down and tell them to be quieter. Mr. Weaver tried to yell at them but he had no voice. Just then he saw nothing but darkness. He couldn’t hear anything anymore.

“No, my dear. Said the landlady. Only you.”

The landlady touched his soft blushed cheeks but he could barely see her, everything was so blurry, he started to think maybe it was the tea. “I think it’s time for bed,” the lady said. So Billy walked over to the stairs and started going up, he was thinking about if he would make it to work tomorrow because he wasn’t feeling that great.

As he was walking up the stairs he tripped because everything was so blurry. He got back up and realized he was on the third floor, so he thought about the other guests who by the lady said were on the third floor.

He saw a tall man about 18 years of age. Billy approached him with caution, the man did not move. Billy went and reached for his hand to check his pulse, the man had no pulse. He could see the fear in this man’s eyes, he wondered what had happened to him. All of the sudden he heard the landlady come up the stairs, Billy hid in the closet. The lady came in and said, “bring him to me”. Billy felt a hand rest on his shoulder and then another on the other shoulder. He turned around and it was the other man he pushed Billy out of the closet.

The lady came up to him and stroked his cheeks and said: “darling there is no need to fear me I am on your side now darling I think it is time for bed”.

Billy made his way down the stairs to bed. As he was laying there he was trying to picture what he was seeing on the roof it was a weird drawing all over the roof, but all Billy could see was a colorful blur. He was feeling lightheaded. He heard someone coming it was the lady she came into his room and crawled into his bed, she cuddled right up to him but the man moved over but she can even closer now. Billy waited until she was in a deep sleep, and when she was he snuck over to his patio.

The city was so beautiful, he tried getting a closer look but then he leaned too far and fell off the patio, and got knocked out. In the morning a man was walking by and saw Billy and called the police. The police saw that Billy was dead and so they took him to his parents the police knocked on the door and his mother opened the door.

“Your son is dead,” said, the officer.

The officer saw the smile on her face turn to a frown and she bursts into tears and, her husband ran over to the door after she told her husband the news a single tear rolled from his eye down his cheek.

The police brought them over to the vehicle and let them see their son the second the bag was opened the mother dropped down to his level and hugged him. A tear fell from her face onto his right on his cheek, the father couldn’t even look at him it hurt too much. A little boy came out of the house it was Billy’s son Mat. He came over to the van and saw his grandparents crying. He looked into the van and saw his father in the van.

He got all excited and jumped in the van and yelled, “daddy”.

Mat realize that his daddy wasn’t moving, mat started freaking out and shaking his dad while he was crying. His grandmother came over and toyed pulling him of his father she told the man to take the body away. The man took the van and left while the grandmother was holding back Mat. Now Mat is fatherless.