What is Blackout Poetry?
Blackout poetry is the creation of a new, original poem by taking a page of text and blacking out or erasing most of the words and phrases of the original text. The words left will make a new poem. Blackout poetry is also called “found poetry.”
How to Write Blackout Poetry
Find a page of text, such as a newspaper article, an old book, or a magazine.
Skim the page of text or passage you have chosen and look for interesting words. See if you notice a theme or topic.
Underline or circle the word(s) or phrase(s) you wish to keep before blacking out anything.
Black out the rest of the words on the page.
Use a different color or a different material. Use a purple crayon to black out the words you don’t want. Or use a gold pen.
You can also create your own blackout poetry online on the New York Times website!