It’s the start of Blackout Week here at The Read Room! To celebrate National Poetry Month, this week I am composing one blackout poem a day.
A blackout poem, for those unfamiliar with them, is a poem written via erasure or “blacking out” text on a given page. You start with an article, a column, or any page of text (get creative– you could photocopy something from a novel, a dictionary, an almanac, etc.). Underline or circle words you like. Then, using those words you marked, make a coherent arrangement: lines, sentences, or even a single phrase. Color over the rest, and there you have it– a blackout poem!
I hadn’t used my pastels in forever, so I when I had the idea to use those instead of sharpie I had to try it 🙂
The poem reads thus:
love is such Wilderness
the sidewalk cracks.
when most else has wilted
it will be
uprooting rivers.
Another poem tomorrow. Oh, and pretty soon I’m going to have to get my writing prompts for Interactive Poetry Week (next week) posted– so stay tuned!
This is actually incredibly poignant! Love it!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, Laekan 🙂
Love this idea! 🙂
It amazes me what cool things people are doing with poetry. Google “blackout poems” or “found poems”– it’s incredible what ideas people come up with!