WHAT IS A BLACKOUT POEM?

A blackout poem is when a poet marks out established text– like in a newspaper– and starts redacting words until a poem is formed. One interesting feature of a blackout poem is that the text AND redacted text create not only a poem, but also a work of visual art.

SPAR

Here is another of my experiments with blackout poetry. It is titled, SPAR. Below the poem you will find the text it was created from, a dictionary page.

One of my favorite ways to create a blackout poem is with a dictionary page. It provides a random selection of words and numerous direction for the author to take.