BLACKOUT POEMS
Blackout poems are created by manipulating pre-existing texts into compressed, tightened new meanings. I like to use found documents -- things from the scrap print pile at the library or newspaper clippings. The idea is to physically black out all but a few words and phrases, and let that remainder be a poem. I'll include a nice example below. If you'd like to do a variation on this type of poem, such as one that moves it to a digital sphere or just plays with the idea of positive and negative space, compression, etc, that's cool too. I love this form because it forces you to work with a limited set of words and find the most fruitful combinations and meanings in a fixed space, and because it has so much to do with space, the black expanse.
Happy poem-ing!
Face of the Earth, by Austin Kleon.
No comments:
Post a Comment