Sunday, May 15, 2022

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"

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