Have you ever met a kid who is sad when school is canceled? I haven’t. Not at normal schools at least.
blackout poetry month challenge
Just exciting enough
I showed this to someone and she told me she loved it. I asked her, “do you understand it?”
She said “of course,” and proceeded to describe it entirely differently than how I’d meant it. I’d tell her what it means but it’s about her.
Maybe I could have told her more
but the black dress pants were just exciting enough
“These’ll work,” I said.
Deafening silence.
“I can do this.”
Talk about a narrow path to victory
Make your own.
Dominique
This is a newspaper blackout poem inspired by the character of Dominique Francon in The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The funny thing about redaction is that is takes you places you would never go on your own.
She wore a print dress which
fitted her from every angle,
arms naked to the wind
she said, “I want you entralled
by your own real-life Barbie.”
Later she returned with her fiancé
and that expression of self satisfaction
wearing the same outfit…
Make your own.
First try at newspaper blackout poetry
One of the pages in the Steal Like an Artist Journal by Austin Kleon tells you to “create a newspaper blackout poem,” which are poems made by redacting newspapers with a permanent marker.
I’ve been completing the journal because it’s a ton of fun and it helps me wake up a side of myself that I shut down way back in elementary school.
The whole activity was surprisingly hard. It’s not easy to work within the constraints of a limited bit of text. I had no idea just how much my creative fiction muscles had atrophied.
This one is titled The real root of evil.
This was supposed to go:
We don’t need a
credential,
but we get one anyways.
I got distracted and Sharpie-d over “but we get one.” Creation begets improvisation.
I wish I had an assistant (or two) who would protect me from meetings.
In case you’re wondering, I used a ultra fine, fine, and extra bold Sharpie to make these and a copy of the New York Times purchased from Starbucks.