A blackout poem is a poem made by taking an existing page of text and blacking out most of the words so the remaining words form a new poem. It sits at the intersection of writing and visual art, and it’s also called erasure or redacted poetry.

How it works

  • Start with a page from a book, newspaper, article, or other text.
  • Pick words or short phrases that catch your eye and seem to suggest a theme.
  • Black out the rest of the page with a marker or other visual treatment.
  • The surviving words are read as the poem, usually from top to bottom.

Why people make them

Blackout poetry is popular because it turns everyday text into something creative and surprising. It can feel playful, reflective, or even politically sharp, depending on the source text and the words you keep. It’s also a simple way to make poetry less intimidating, since you are discovering language instead of starting from a blank page.

Tiny example

A newspaper paragraph about weather might leave behind words like: “quiet rain / over the city / morning begins.” That stripped-down sequence becomes the poem, while the hidden text becomes part of the design.

TL;DR: blackout poetry = turning existing text into a new poem by hiding most of the words and keeping only the ones that tell a fresh story.