Blackout Poems

(or Whiteout Poems in Honor of Max)

Let’s start with blackout poems.

Blackout poems are poems, sentences or phrases created from the words of a text, such as a novel or newspaper.

You should still be able to read the poem from left to right and from top to bottom.

http://www.blackoutpoetry.net/

Blackout poem by Austin Kleon, a writer and artist living in Austin, Texas.

http://www.austinkleon.com/category/newspaper-blackout-poems/

How does he do that?http://vimeo.com/4037584

shebshi.wordpress.comthisiscolossal.com

Your Turn! (with a few changes…)

You will be given a page from Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler himself.

Why would we want to change the words of Adolf Hitler?

Step One

Use a PENCIL to LIGHTLY underline words you think might be useful for your poem. Look for as many positive words possible so you are changing the horror of Mein Kampf into something beautiful.

Step TwoWrite down the words on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure you write them in the same left to right and top to bottom order as they are on the page.

audreydimola.com

Step Three

Does your poem make sense? If no, reevaluate your word choices. beetlebugbooks.com

Step Four

In PENCIL, put a very neat box around the words you have chosen for the final poem.

readingyear.blogspot.com

Step Five

Only after you read and reread your words in your boxes (and are happy with the final poem), should you move to blacking out the words you don’t want.

readingyear.blogspot.com