Blackout Poetry
Blackout Poetry
A found poetry form where you take an existing page of text (newspaper, book page, document) and black out most of the words with a marker — leaving only selected words visible, which together form a new poem.
Key features:
- Uses existing/found text as raw material
- Poem is created by selection + erasure, not by writing new words
- Often visually artistic (black marker art around the remaining words)
- Meaning shifts completely from the original text
Example (simple concept):
Original newspaper line:
"The government announced new policies today regarding education funding for rural schools next year."
After blacking out most words, only these remain visible:
"government... policies... education... rural... schools... next year"
Rearranged/left visible, it could read as a new mini-poem:
"government policies —
education for rural schools,
next year."
(The blacked-out words are literally covered in black marker/box on the page, leaving just a few standing out as the "poem.")
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