Thursday, April 29, 2010

Poem #29--Newspaper Blackout Poem

Franki sent a link to this book trailer and challenged me to try writing a Newspaper Blackout Poem. Every poem-a-day writer needs a cheerleader as thoughtful as mine!




He makes it look easy, no?

Here's my feeble attempt:

































































raise chickens

raise
chicken dinner
homegrown chickens
chickens
chickens
sprouting chicks
in the coop
nonviolent
rehabilitation

by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010



Now YOU try it.
Post it and send your link.
I'm CERTAIN you can do a better job.

I'll be the springboard to your brilliance.
I have no problem with that role.

Go for it.
Go get your marker
and the newspaper
and make art by process of elimination.

11 comments:

  1. Oh, Mary Lee! What a blast. The last line is especially perfect considering the article it grew from.
    I've gotta try this...
    Thank you for the fun way to begin the day!
    A.

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  2. Too cool! And wouldn't kids love to do this? I'm thinking black crayons, not Sharpies, though, for them:>)

    I've done found poems with kids, but I like the idea of actually keeping the poem ON the original paper and blacking all the extra stuff out. Nifty.

    I love "sprouting chicks" in your poem. Thanks for sharing the link and poem...

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  3. I've done diced and spliced newspaper article poems before, but I love the blackout idea. Running off to try it.

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  4. What fun! I'm filing this away to use in future poetry workshops with kids.

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  5. Glad y'all are digging the blackout poems. Feel free to post your own over at the Newspaper Blackout blog and check out the book, NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT!

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  6. Your blackout poem reminds me of the first "altered book" by Tom Phillips - A Humument - where he blacked out and artistically wrote poems from the 1892 book A Human Document by W.H. Mallock. See the website with photos of the pages from the book. Your blackout poems are really an art form. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Humument
    http://humument.com/gallery/index.html

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  7. Ooh! This would be so fun to do with my kindergartener.

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  8. This is SO cool! I am not a poet, by any stretch, but this somehow feels more accessible to me! I'm going to have to try it with my kids! :)

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  9. What a great idea! I'm going to have to try it out.

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  10. Oh my goodness! That made me laugh!! I've never thought of giving a blackout poem a try. I've enjoyed all of your poems. You amaze me!

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  11. Putting this one into my memory banks for future fun.

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