Blackout poetry is a way of turning an existing page of text (like from a book, newspaper, or article) into a new poem by hiding most of the words and revealing just a few that form a message.

What blackout poetry is

  • You start with text that already exists (a page, article, or printout), and you don’t write from scratch.
  • You “find” a poem by selecting a handful of words and then blacking out or covering everything else.
  • It’s also called erasure poetry , found poetry , or redacted poetry.

Think of it like sculpting: the words are already there, and your job is to carve away what you don’t need until only the poem remains.

Basic step‑by‑step: classic marker version

  1. Choose your text
    • Grab a page from: an old book, a newspaper, a magazine, a printout of an article, a junk-mail letter, etc.
 * Don’t use anything valuable or sentimental, because you’ll be drawing on it.
  1. Skim and get a feeling
    • Read the page quickly once, just to see what mood or topics are on it (love, travel, conflict, boredom, etc.).
 * Let one or two “strong” words jump out at you—those can become the emotional anchor or theme of the poem.
  1. Hunt for potential poem words
    • Go back and lightly circle or underline words and short phrases that connect to that theme.
 * Don’t worry about perfect grammar yet; you’re collecting raw material.

 * Try to notice:
   * Vivid nouns (storm, window, hunger)
   * Strong verbs (run, fracture, bloom)
   * Emotional adjectives (silent, tired, electric)
  1. Arrange a rough “path” of words
    • Look at the circled words and see if you can read them in a natural order from top-left to bottom-right.
 * You can sometimes:
   * Skip across lines, as long as the reading order is visually clear.

   * Use small linking words (and, the, of) if they are available in the text to smooth the flow.
  1. Edit your selection
    • Cross out circles around any words that don’t fit your final idea.
 * Aim for clarity: it’s okay if the poem is quite short; fewer, stronger words usually hit harder.
  1. Black out the rest
    • Use a black marker (or any dark color) and carefully fill in all the text you are not using.
 * Leave your chosen words in clean “islands” of white space.

 * Be slow here: once you black out a word, you can’t bring it back.
  1. Add visual flair (optional)
    • You can draw shapes, patterns, or illustrations around the remaining words—vines, silhouettes, stars, geometric blocks, etc.
 * Some people connect their words with lines or arrows to show the reading order.

Simple example (in words)

Imagine this original line:

“She walked through the crowded station, wishing for a quiet place to breathe.”

You might pick and keep:

“She / wishing / quiet / breathe”

Then you’d black out everything else so only those words remain, turning prose into a short, moody poem.

Tips to make stronger blackout poems

  • Start with extra text
    • Choose pages with more words than you think you need so you have choices.
  • Look for a semantic field
    • Notice clusters of related words (sea, waves, storm, ship) and build your poem around that “field” of meaning.
  • Don’t black out too fast
    • It’s tempting to color everything right away, but waiting lets you see new connections between words.
  • Play with word tricks
    • You can sometimes create a “new” word by partly blocking letters (for example, turning “stared” into “star”).
  • Embrace ambiguity
    • Blackout poems don’t need to explain everything; a suggestive or slightly mysterious tone often works beautifully.

How to do digital blackout poetry

If you prefer screens over markers, you can do blackout poetry digitally using slides, docs, or image editors.

  1. Get your text into a document
    • Copy text from an article, ebook, Wikipedia page, etc., and paste it into a slide or document.
 * Make the font big enough to fill your page for a nice visual effect.
  1. Set up your background and text
    • Choose a background color (white or black are most common).
 * Make the text a contrasting color so it’s easy to read at first.
  1. Select poem words
    • Use highlighting, bold, or a different color to mark the words and phrases you want to keep—this is your draft stage.
  1. Black out or hide the rest
    • Options:
      • Change unwanted text to match the background color.
   * Use a digital highlighter or shape tool (rectangles) colored black to cover unwanted words.
  1. Experiment with versions
    • Duplicate the slide or save copies so you can try different visual styles (color blocks, images behind text, etc.) without losing the original.

Creative ideas and variations

  • Theme challenges
    • Pick a theme (spring, loneliness, joy, cities at night) and hunt for those vibes in random pages.
  • Illustrated blackout
    • Let your drawing echo the poem: for a poem about “drifting,” you might draw waves that form the blackout shape.
  • Series from one book
    • Use multiple pages from the same source to create a mini‑collection that explores a recurring mood or story arc.
  • Collaborative blackout
    • Trade pages with a friend or in a class: everyone starts with the same page and sees how different each poem becomes.

Quick “how to do blackout poetry” checklist

  • Find a page you’re okay marking on.
  • Skim once, feel the mood, and choose a guiding word or atmosphere.
  • Circle or underline words that connect to that mood.
  • Arrange them into a readable order on the page.
  • Remove extra circles and commit to your final word path.
  • Black out everything else with marker or digital tools.
  • Optionally decorate with illustrations or patterns that match the poem’s theme.

TL;DR: To do blackout poetry, you “find” a poem hidden inside an existing page of text by selecting a few meaningful words and literally blacking out the rest, either with markers on paper or digitally, turning the leftover words and visuals into a new, original piece.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.