Blackout Poetry

Have you ever heard of blackout poetry? 

credit: flowmagazine.com

It is a form of "found" poetry, where you select words from a written text to create something new. Once the students got over the shock of me letting them write in books (don't worry, these were weeded books that either were falling apart or hadn't been checked out in years or extra copies from former RICBA sets), they came up with the following: 

Gradually, Grace wondered, 

"Gosh.

Miss Mabel, are you really a rat?"

- M.B. "Saving Grace"

Who hurt Daddy?

Girl?

Mama?

Amos did.

Aunt chin cried a soft hair over and over.

Nor Daddy.

- S.S. "Belle Prater's Boy"

Mr. T grumbled out of bed.

Ripped Poppy's mouse and raising pigs on TeenTown.

Woah, according to various moves, 

David Charles Pinowski determined

Rilla hit her fingers into a juicer.

- X.G. and J.S., "Monsters in Cyberspace"

Sometimes my brother says

That's stupid, Billy

How bout mud? asked Billy

Eat a bite of mud, said Father

How bout poison, Billy?

How bout worms squirmed?

- A.J. and L.J., "How to Eat Fried Worms"

Frantically, somebody toppling over

puked.

Ralph, Augie, fat Dave smiles  ...

Then he slaps him.

Augie groans, pukes.

Ralph says "We got you, Augie boy."

- A.X.R.S.T. - "The Gypsies Never Came"

Oh dear no!

Awfully clouding slow-moving mind the bird.

Pushed his hat back,

He took a grave.

- S.A., "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"

Cricket, tree toad, bird,

a small hanging child

attempts to ride the stage.

- S.A., "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm"

Elliot help me snap out!

FBI agents!

I'd get in trouble.

The FBI have been spying on the FBI agents as well.

Germany

- L.Z. "The Art of Keeping Cool"

While Lily picked up the doll

It made a sound.

Nobody believed the doll lived for years and years.

- G.P. "The Search for Delicious"

Once upon a time

all the fairies returned to the king's palace.

Where a solid gold casket

that should do everything, she declared.

Take comfort, your majesty.

- A.J. and L.J., "Perrault's Complete Fairy Tales"

Grace couldn't have a funeral.

My parents buried Sarah in the darkness.

My grandmother got mad about 

a boy named Danny who left his mother.

- M.B., "Saving Grace"

Beautiful flowers

obsessed with beauty,

fit for a queen

to be beautiful herself.

Like her mother.

The little birds in the garden

flying above the tower,

a place outside to call her own.

- C.L. and G.O., "The Girl in the Tower"8

Bones were coming

I ducked 

Bob didn't answer

I searched in my head

- B.K. "Wake Me at Midnight"

Let me hear another sound from you -

don't be angry.

He went the whole length.

But why

why did you get married?

Because I fell in love.

Because you fell in love?

Nay, uncle.

Good afternoon.

- K.J., "A Christmas Carol"

Rain flooded

no more water

floods stopped

bruising laughing

stone swing head

didn't fly far

- E.R, "Fish"

Hurt?

Mom sighed.

Game tomorrow is my life.

How long, Dad asked.

Excited?

My older brother leaned, scared.

I'd pretend.

I nodded.

Lakeview Elementary

experiments exploded.

- E.B., "Because of the Rabbit"

Well goodbye red rabbit.

He frowned.

It was an unusual frown. 

It might have been a smile.

- J.A., "There's a Boy in the Girls Bathroom"

Decision to sink enemy

Cannon, bombs, weapons.

Fish splashed water on his face.

Salty meat.

- E.R., "Fish"

the fifth already was hot

Blaze peeled off T-shirt

tossed it hard

quickly

making small hole

size of a basketball

cupped 

covering Blaze

rippled

damp palms of his hands

- I.P-M, "Words of Stone"

Billy like crazy evil babies

so hard, his eyes pop off

And he was tumbling

into a ditch

- N.G., "Ollie's Odyssey"

I basically take weapons

on different planets by the mall.

Then lose receipt they had.

Boy scouts binoculars

I quiet went downstairs

Piece of French toast.

- G.W., "Game Over, Pete Watson"

thousands of thousands kids

Mom city is one thing

New York is bad

Dad mama school

how New York suburbs

as dad

- J.S., "Some Places More Than Others."

Who's my brother

what do you mean by that

nothing

- A.D., "Barney and the UFO"

Owen told me last year

but I drop them 

Okay I put a plate in the fridge

- E.B., "Because of the Rabbit"

Ignoring Jonathan

the boy asked Flavia

What is Lupus?

Like a fierce wild dog

Ah! Lupus!

The boy said How may I please you?

Nubia had garbage heaps.

- A.W., "The Thieves of Ostia"

Let's go he whispered

He'll kill me with dirt and dead trees

- N.H, "Danger in Quicksand Swamp"

Hummingbirds flapping

running around

amazing things but can be pretend.

Over the hears, remarkable friends

land on her peacefully, 

spoke softly

recently birds brilliant green

- L.S., "The Girl in the Tower"