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deletion 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 poetic form created by selectively erasing words from an existing text, leaving a new poem embedded within the original through absence.

Detailed Definition
The practice of creating poetry through systematic removal or deletion of words from existing texts, discovering new meaning through subtraction rather than addition. Related to erasure and blackout poetry, deletion poetry emphasizes the creative potential in editing and selection. Success depends on thoughtful choice of source material and strategic decisions about which words to remove to reveal meaningful patterns in the remaining text.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Tom Phillips’ “A Humument,” deletion poetry transforms W.H. Mallock’s novel into visual and textual fragments; In Ronald Johnson’s “Radi Os,” Paradise Lost is erased into minimalist verse; In Jen Bervin’s “Nets,” Shakespeare’s sonnets are deleted into new poems; In M. NourbeSe Philip’s “Zong!,” legal documents are deleted into poetic testimony; In Tracy K. Smith’s “Wade in the Water,” Civil War letters are deleted into lyrical fragments.
Additional Notes
Sustainable poetic practice that gives new life to existing texts. Related to concepts of intertextuality and remix culture. Consider copyright implications when using recent texts.
Also Known As
Erasure poetry Subtractive verse Deletion form Erasure verse
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