Leaving Anyway

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 work with this form of poetry. There are many pages of the book I selected left. I’m going by the old cliché “waste not, want not.” I plan to use  Rebecca Hunt’s Mr. Chartwell until it runs out of words to create Black Out verses. The poem I called  Leaving Anyway.

About the Black Out Poem and Leaving Anyway

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 decided to use Mr. Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt to create these poems.

Leaving Anyway

It won’t give
Any relief.
Knocking against him
“I don’t know 
Your blemished opinion,
Mr. Pug.”
Called back
Waiting in
Her bedroom
Sunlight warmed
Florescent
Radiated
Before
Banged the door shut
“Come out
You Bastard.
I can wait
In a way you can’t.”
The rotating beam of a lighthouse
Shored up his heart.
“Doesn’t give a fat damn.”
With a grin
He disappeared.
“I was leaving anyway.”

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.

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