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blackout poetry

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A found-poetry form created by selectively redacting words from existing prose or text, leaving a new poetic message visible.

Detailed Definition
The practice and form of creating poetry by blacking out portions of existing text, typically using black marker on printed material like newspapers, legal documents, or book pages. This subtractive creative process discovers poetry within prose by strategic deletion, with the visual result combining elements of concrete poetry and found art. The remaining visible text forms the poem while the blackened portions create visual texture.
Example
Example in poetry:
Creating poetry by marking through printed text with marker; Using newspapers as source material for erasure poetry; The visual art of selective text elimination for poetic effect
Additional Notes
Austin Kleon's "Newspaper Blackout" popularized this form. Source material choice affects final poem's possibilities. Works best with text-dense sources like newspapers or legal documents.
Also Known As
Erasure poetry Redaction verse Found poetry Selective obscuration Erasure
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