BlACKOUT POETRY

Welcome Snowballers! Today, your task will involve a bit of creativity, so I hope that you are prepared! Once you enter this location, you find a piece of text that will either be given to you, or you must search for it.  Now you will either find or get some Sharpies. Then find a calm area and scan through pieces of text together until you each find two that you like. Next, your real challenge begins. Each of you must take your text and turn then into a “Black-Out” poem. In other words, create a poem by blacking out portions of the text in your articles with the remaining words thus becoming your poem. Make one poem for each of the articles you chose.

If you need a bit of help, below is some advice from poet Austin Kleon. “Grab a newspaper. Grab a marker. Circle the words you like. Color over the ones you don't. Soon you'll have a poem. You want to begin by looking for a word, or a combination of words that forms an image in your head. You want an anchor, a place to start. Once you identify your anchor, you want to move around the page and find words and phrases you can link to that anchor. Try not to have a preconceived notion of where you want to go. Let the method take you for a ride.  Remember that Westerners read left to right, top to bottom. Poems read best and they're easier to make if you follow this rule. For example, if you're looking for a word or phrase before your anchor, it would be above or to the left. If you're looking for a word after your anchor, it should be below or to the right. You can cheat the left-to-right, top-to-bottom rule by using little trails of white space to lead you in between words. I use a pencil to circle or draw a box around the words and phrases I like with as I'm working, and black out the unwanted words later.” Share your poems with each other. And if you’re feeling courageous, share with a stranger. SNOWBALLLLLLL!