My friend Illy passed on to me a link to the blackout poems of Austin Kleon. Here’s the one that most caught my eye:
The craziest thing is that I actually had this idea before. I tried to do it with stories about China, and I failed miserably. I’m not sure whether it was the material I had to work with or my own lack of creativity at fault. Cool to see that Austin has more than pulled it off…
It’s definitely a form I’ve never tried with poetry. The poem you posted here is terrific… and I’m checking out the link now. Hope it provides some inspiration.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pmYes! That is art.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pmvery cool!
May 10th, 2008 at 2:48 pmJohn, you might want to take a look at Tom Phillips’ “A Humument” which is the classic of this genre and a very beautiful piece of art:
Here is a full online presentation of the first, 1970 edition:
Tom Phillips: A Humument. A treated Victorian novel
May 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pmIt just rings a bell, although America isn’t exactly where i’m from…had to put a link :)
May 11th, 2008 at 4:58 amWrite your own poem and make it work. then you can make it fit your own ideas. take care
May 12th, 2008 at 5:35 ami totally don’t understand it !hehe. i lack artistic cell. hehe
May 12th, 2008 at 1:33 pmSophie, that’s the point(s) of art - art is subjective to taste.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:50 amThat is pretty crazy that you’d had this idea before. ;)
I’d never seen this form of poetry before; it’s sort of akin to remix work I guess. Taking a pre-existing structure and manipulating it into something new. Honestly, I enjoy doing similiar things with drawings or whatever. In a way it can be easier then actually coming up with something 100% out of the ether. But I guess everyone’s creative process works differently.
One of my favorite tricks when attempting to write something is to find a random word, and see where it takes me.
Cool post for sure. Now I have some stuff to look at while “working”. ;)
May 13th, 2008 at 12:34 pmNo idea what “台巴子” means, but I’m just guessing it is not complimentary.
Is 巴子a common suffix? Any other good examples of how xx巴子 is used?
Is it a term used for Taiwanese people generally? Or for Taiwanese business people based in China?
May 13th, 2008 at 8:54 pm