Look What I Found! Erasure Poetry

Hello, fellow poetic pubsters. This is Victoria, back after a bit of a hiatus. It’s good to see you and to anticipate the poetry that may evolve from today’s prompt–one that I hope you will enjoy.

Time to go back to a poetic form that we last discussed (as far as I can tell) in 2013. Erasure is a form of found poetry or found art created by erasing words from an existing text in prose or verse and framing the result on the page as a poem.

I have found, in the past, that turning to a form such as this can be an excellent way to jump-start a lackadaisical muse. The words are there—all you need to do is reconstruct them. The sources you choose can yield surprising results. The first time I attempted it, I used 2 pages of text, opened at random, from Gone with the Wind. Here’s what happened:

Good-Bye
An Erasure Poem

It seemed to whisper,

Good- bye,
Good-bye.

Everything that had been a part of her.
Everything bound up
in her deepest roots.

Good-bye,
Good-bye.

Fear fell away, congealed.
Fear, frozen, oddly gentle,
like a baby rabbit in a trap.

Turn me loose.

Good-bye
good-bye.

The air, thick with feathers,
floated softly down.
Suddenly stilled.

Good-bye.
Good-bye.

This evening, I invite you to share an erasure poem. Choose a text you think will work for you—prose or poetry—and mix it up a bit. Can you create a Haibun from an existing poem or use a novel to write a sonnet? Of course, a form isn’t necessary as you can see from the free verse above. To be clear, you don’t use all of the text, only what you want. Some poets like to photocopy a page and black out what they don’t want. Oh, and please don’t forget to share the source of your poem with us!

To join in,
• Write your poem and post it.
• Copy and paste the direct URL of the poem into Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post, along with your name.
• Post the link to dVerse on your blog and social media sites.
• Return to the pub and read other poets and comment on their work.
• Enjoy.