I have a confession to make. The Black Out Poem has captured my imagination. I find it interesting to take a page filled with writing and turn it into something often contrary to the original meaning. It’s like playing with someone else’s words and making them become my own. Free verse is the best way to write this form of poetry. I ran out of pages in Rebecca Hunt’s Mr. Chartwell. I decided to step things up in my adventure with black-out poetry.
Before I retired, I worked in a small university police office. Part of my duties centered around processing the lost and found. At the end of each semester, students often left books on table tops they couldn’t sell back to the bookstore. We kept them for a long time before placing them in the trash. I brought Carol S. Dweck’s Mindset home because it caught my attention. The poem I created from my rescued book is titled Each One a Loser.
About the Black Out Poem and Each One a Loser
Poet takes a black marker and redacts words until a poem is formed. It is important to note the text and redacted words form a visual poem.
Method to use
1. Identify source text. The source can be a newspaper, a book page, or written text.
2. Draw a box around keywords or phrases.
3. Make Connections between boxes. (This is optional.)
4. Color the rest in with a marker. You can use any color. The most common color used is black.
I found this style of creating a poem unique from anything I’ve ever tried before. The words are already provided, and the challenge is to make something poetic out of the text. I’m excited to see how the different textbook writing style found in Carol S. Dweck’s Mindset translates into poetic form.
Each One a Loser People blame Feel anger and disgust Become contemptuous Dissatisfied Blind themselves to problems Having a flirtation Mysterious mind often elsewhere Going through Confronted the reality Come Crashing down Bad and irreparable Problems that could be solved I need more attention The situation Explore the issue What to do next Each one a loser
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
Be sure to follow Molly on Twitter!
I find black out poems very fascinating. They’re very creative. Really liked this one too.
Thank you. I’m enoying playing with them right now.
You’re very welcome.
I have a book sitting by my desk that I plan on using to make my first blackout poem. How timely is this post! I needed some directions. Thanks.
So true! Love this, Molly 💕🙂
Thank you.