Blackout Poetry and William Stafford

Hey world,

Recently I came into Poet Soc. armed with about fifty sheets of photocopied pages from some of my favourite books and a big smile on my face. I was met with confused faces as I spread them out on the table and exclaimed "Blackout poetry! Who wants a sheet?" It turns out that no one there had ever even heard of blackout poetry, let alone actually tried it. Appalled, I explained to them what I'm going to explain to you now.

For those of you who don't know what it is, blackout poetry is a type of poetry where you photocopy a random page out of a book, get a black pen and black out all the words you haven't used already to make a poem, here is an example:

It is an incredibly easy and fun way to write poetry, but it does require patience. Don't worry if the poem is a bit random or vague, it still conveys a message! Some of mine are very random, but you can improve with practice.

*****

Also this week I have undergone a challenge of my own invention. We have been studying William Stafford in Poet Soc., an American poet who is famous for having written a poem every day during his whole life! He is very inspirational as his method for poetry is zero revision, which for a poet is very rare. Most poets will write something, then think better of it, come back to it, and change it. So I thought, why don't we create a challenge for people interested in poetry where you write a poem every day for one week without allowing for revisions? So far, I am on day four, and I absolutely love it. It just sort of flows better when you don't have to think of how to change it, or how it could be distilled or made more clever. Instead you can simply channel your thoughts and feelings onto the paper before you.

Stafford's most famous poem is 'Ask Me', I suggest you look it up immediately as his style flows just as much as the river he compares his words too....Here is an example of one I wrote recently-

Some time,
When the sun has dressed the treetops in emeralds,
Beneath a sapphire sky
Walk with me
For I too am fluent in silence.

This is a great way for you to get into the flow of poetry. William Wordsworth said in his preface to lyrical ballads:

'All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings'

I implore all you guys out there to try blackout poetry and if your feeling brave try the Stafford challenge! Also, share your opinion of my blog. I would love to hear what you think! Feel free to comment at the bottom of the page.

Write on, world.

A.H🐝