You can make it as long or as short as you like.įor longer poems, choose pages with a higher word density (fewer images, smaller line spacing, etc.). There isn’t a standard word count or approximate length for blackout poetry, which is good news. The number of words you select for your poem.The length of your page and its word count.The length of your blackout poetry will depend on two things So, while you’re taking a break from writing with a relaxing activity that looks suspiciously like destroying perfectly good books (or redacting newspaper articles), you’re also creating something new. You can even select individual letters to make up a word you want in your poem. Sometimes you’ll need an article, a preposition, or conjunction to help string the other words together into something that makes sense - at least to you. These don’t all have to be meaningful words or phrases. Keep in mind you’re not creating poetry from scratch you’re just picking out words that stand out to you or that you want for your poem. Redacted Poetry Journal: Create Blackout Poetry By Destroying The Classics by Offbeat Poet, Sherry Hale, and Mellowgraphics.īlackout poetry is a type of “appropriation art” - which means you’re taking something someone else created and using it to create something else.Īustin Kleon – the author of Steal Like an Artist and Newspaper Blackout– posts images of his own newspaper blackout poetry on his website and explains it in a YouTube video below.Make Blackout Poetry: Turn These Pages Into Poems by John Carroll.Blackout Poetry Journal by Kathryn Maloney.

Step 3: Change the background color to black.Step 2: Highlight the words you want to keep in white.Step 1: Temporarily change the background color.Completely fill the space between the words of your poem. Create a colorful zentangle around your chosen words. Create an elaborate geometric design in black and white. Use different colors to create a landscape with lines. Set apart your chosen words with shading, and use lines to connect them. Use black ink (or paint) to create a picture around the words.

Black out poetry