Blackout Poetry: Creative Development

I enjoy writing poetry and making visual art with found things and thus it is a bit surprising that I only discovered blackout poetry in 2023. This type of poetry falls under the category of Found Poetry that according to poets.org takes existing texts and refashions, reorders and presents them as poems.

Blackout Poetry, also referred to as Redacted Poetry is brought into the world by selecting words from a block of text, leaving them in the original position they appeared in print and striking out the rest. This is a meeting of two creative minds, a collaborative endeavour between the most likely unsuspecting author of the original text and the poet who brings to light new revelations, new meaning with the words that have been selected.

It is a form of poetry along with collage poetry (something I discovered much earlier) that upon reflection is a culmination of nearly forty years working in the creative industries; first as a graphic designer/illustrator, then as a maker of collage and assemblage art and later as a writer of poetry.

In July 2023 I began to explore the possibilities of blackout poetry using old National Geographic magazine text and crossing out with a black sharpie. This method produced quite messy visual results and at the beginning I also forgot to photograph the original text.

National Geographic, March 2002, p59. Blackout poetry 2023, KEW

By the time I wrote the 'Catalogue' article for a Dead Good Blog in mid-July, I had figured out a tidier method; photographing the text, inputting into the computer and blacking out using Photoshop.

Army & Navy Stores Catalogue, 1907, p.313. Blackout poetry 2023, KEW

Moving on, considering content for this current article, I began again with photographing the text and then firstly doing the Photoshop method.

Country Life, December 1993, p.58. Blackout poetry 2024, KEW

Then I thought I would experiment further with the original magazine text and add colour using coloured pencils and Ohuhu markers. With this method one can see all original text leaving the selected words appearing as if a cryptic message.

Country Life, December 1993, p.58. Blackout poetry 2024, KEW

The next experiment was using colour and then adding marks with a black technical pen to push back the unwanted text making it nearly illegible.

National Geographic, May 2012, p.57. Blackout poetry 2024, KEW

Country Life, April 1994, p.76. Blackout poetry 2024, KEW

Writing is breakfast process

Writing is breakfast '3'

Thankyou for reading, Kate J

Sources
https://writers.com/what-is-blackout-poetry-examples-and-inspiration

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Uncreative Writing

Guest post by David Riley

Below is something I made using one of the free word shuffling programs that can be found on the web and a couple of entries from recent Blackpool Gazettes, an idea suggested to me when I read about Kenneth Goldsmith, who had created a piece of work out of the whole day's content from one New York Times paper. This isn't found poetry or even collage but possibly related to it. I haven't moved things around so it's still alphabetical. There's scope here for finding new meanings, isn't there? Something worth trying perhaps?

3am argue blackpool blackpools cash chair class come cost council day deckchair deckchairs emro end forward gazette go golden happen id including just mile modern move need new other place police process prom pub resort say seaside seem shame sight spent stock talk time town visitor vital working year

Indeed, in the 21st c., it is difficult to find poetry that does not have some “found” component, the ne plus ultra exemplified by Kenneth Goldsmith’s Day (2003), which is the transcription of the entire text of a single day’s— September 1, 2000— New York Times from beginning to end, consolidating headlines, columns, and ads, so as to make one seamless and surprisingly novel text. Goldsmith himself calls such works “uncreative writing.” His New York Trilogy of 2003– 5 (Weather; Traffic; and Sports) is entirely found text: its transcription of the specific radio broadcasts in a given time period does not include a single word that the poet can call his own.   (The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (2012), Princeton University Press, Kindle Edition)

 

Goldsmith's thoughts on 'uncreativity' are expanded in his interview, Uncreativity as Creative Practice.

Happy 1000th. Here's to another millennium.

 

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A Magnificent Milestone ....

I feel truly privileged to be writing for the Dead Good Blog as it achieves its 1000th post and continues in the strong manner that has already brought it thus far. When I was originally asked to become a regular blogger I admit to feelings of worry, fear, and downright panic. Would I be able to do this? Would my writing be good enough? What if I can't think of something on theme? Can I devote the time?  I shouldn't have worried too much, it gets a little easier with practice and time, but those gremlins still inhabit the back of my mind hence the feeling of privilege.

The found poems that have been posted already this week are awesome and shows the depth and variety of styles that this wonderful Blog has brought to us. Each individual line of my found poem this week is from a different poem or line of a blog to the last. I have also found it great to look back at old posts and re-discover that very same talent. I'm afraid I don't know how to link each line to the corresponding poem, but I will list the authors at the end of this post.


Cumulative Collection - A Magnificent Milestone:

I've been absorbed and inspired by many
but the thought was a distraction
almost like mentally completing a jigsaw

choose something unknown on a whim
writing in pure sound
weaving the details in
a small sigh of despair
before circling inwards
... because of that haunting / hateful tune that repeats 
 the rhythms and cadences drawing me out of reality
moving between fantasy and reality, dwelling in a liminal space
Words against actions foolishly ignored
Of the seemingly eternal abyss

do the lyrics hold true at all

it's not just trees casting long shadows
Eventually, you return to the page.
A photo just isn’t the same


The authors of these wonderful lines are:  Ashley R Lister, Shaun Brookes, Colin Davies, Vicky Ellis (An impulsive berk), Lara Clayton, Lindsay Mulholland, Sheilagh Dyson, Cerridwen Lee. Be sure to look up their work on this blog.

Thanks for reading.  ;-) x

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Found Poetry

 by Ashley Lister

 One writing exercise that I’ve never used in class works around the concept of ‘found poetry.’

Charles Saatchi has

told a court he has

"no proof"

his ex-wife Nigella Lawson

ever took drugs –

despite an email he sent

claiming she was

"off her head".

He was giving evidence

at the trial

of the couple's assistants

Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo who

deny

fraudulently

using their employers'

credit cards.

The Grillos' defence

has claimed the sisters

were allowed to spend 

by Ms Lawson

to cover her 

use of drugs.

Addressing the Grillos'

defence counsel

Mr Saatchi said: "I have

no proof."

Art dealer

Mr Saatchi

told defence barrister

Anthony Metzer QC

at Isleworth Crown Court: "I have

never,

never

seen any evidence of Nigella

taking any drug

whatsoever."

This story originally appeared on the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25154201

The concept of found poetry is to take an existing text, a transcript of conversation, an example text from a different genre or, as here, a new story: and use line breaks to give it the appearance of a poem.

From there, the poem is then likely to be constructed by the reader as a poem, rather than a piece of news. Here’s another one I constructed from an email that may or may not have been spam. It discusses suspicious activity on my Barclays Bank account however, because I don’t have a Barclays Bank account, I suspect it might not be entirely legitimate.

We Have Observed Frequently Login Attempts

Dear Customer, We

recently have determined

that different computers

have logged in

your Barclays
account, and

multiple password

failures were

present before

the logons.

Do not

ignore this

message is

for your security.

For your security

we have temporary

suspended

your account.
Please

download the document

attached to this

email and fill

carefully.

If you do

not restore your

account within 24

hours,

we will be forced to

suspend
your account

indefinitely,

as it may have been

used

for fraudulent

purposes.

We apologize for

any

inconvenience.

It’s not original. It’s arguable as to whether or not it’s really poetry. But it’s a fun exercise – particularly for those who are feeling uninspired. If you have access to a news story or a block of text, try it and see if you can “find” some poetry in the commonplace of regular text.

As always, if you want to share your work in the comments box below, it would be fun to see what you’ve done with this one. 

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