Erasure
What is an erasure?
An erasure is created by erasing or blacking out words from a document, and then using the remaining words on the page to form a poem of a new tone and idea completely. It should not be just a simplified version of the original piece of writing, although the remaining words should be placed in the same order as they had been written originally. The erasure should have the new author's voice, rather than that of the original author and it ideally should not even sound as if it came from the original piece.
Sample erasure poems:
My erasure poem:
Erase & Restorean erasure from a business newspaper article
slowly,
life continued al- though there remains damage. things are improving, still. recovery, rest, growth. we are doing bet- ter than the rest. Understanding the poem:While I was sifting through papers in my overflowing backpack, I came upon the business portion of a newspaper I had used for my sociology class earlier in the week. The particular article I focused on was already highlighted for its main points: local banks were at last catching up since the recession. I was curious to see if I could take a heavy factually-based article and create a poem that simply focused on the underlying theme of growth and recovery--not of banks, but in life.
My goal was to show the process of coming to terms with tragedy or hardship, and coming to the realization that, in the end, we are often better off than many others, even so. I hoped to give the poem the tone of a letter in which the writer is informing the reader (a friend or family member) of the difficult process of fixing a broken past. I also wanted to apply the idea of an erasure to what we inevitably do in real life--try to erase the bad or irrelevant memories and just try to focus on the good. In order to meet my goal, I was sure to cross out any words having to do with banks, money, or specific people. I wanted to focus on only the words that created the image of rebuilding, and of a hopeful and optimistic future. The remaining words on the page were the above.
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