During class today, our professor had us work on "black-out poems". I had never made one before, and I really like how mine turned out. If you're lost, a black-out poem is where you take an original piece (poem, story, etc.), highlight the phrases, words, or sentences that stand out to you, and then 'black out' the rest of the words. Literally. You mark through the rest of the words with a black marker and leave only the highlighted ones standing.
The original piece that we worked with was the book Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles. After working through the black-out process, here is what I ended up with:
He's not allowed.
He's not allowed,
no matter what color.
Our feet felt stuck;
I know this job has made him angry.
I want to do everything you can do.
I want to see this town with John Henry's eyes.
I want to pick it out myself.
We look at each other,
then we walk through the front door together.
Equal enjoyment.
Freedom Summer.
That was the summer I began to pay attention,
this story grew out of my feelings.
Wow! I have not experimented with black-out poetry, but you have inspired me to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed doing this activity. It was such a different way of doing a poem and would use this in a classroom one day.
ReplyDeleteI love how concise your poem was in comparison to how the ones shared out were. It beings a different idea to the surface and I like it!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this as well today! It’s so interesting to see what the peom comes out to be like with the parts that really stuck out to you!
ReplyDeleteI love how your poem turned out! It is so powerful and can have various different interruptions!! What an awesome activity!
ReplyDeleteGreat poem - I have never thought about using that books for a black out poem. It was perfect. I would love to know what others came up with. Thanks for sharing.
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