If you've been reading the news, I don't know… at any point in the last five or so years… then you know that what's happening in the world at any given moment can really bring us down.
Everyone deals with their Weltschmerz in a different way. Some dive into it, and some ignore it. Others use art to try and work through their emotions.
I've always admired people who wrote poetry to express their feelings in such a captivating way.
Poetry is a wonderful art form, but it can also be a bit daunting. I'm more comfortable with a paintbrush in my hand than I am with wielding words. Ok, I write a lot, but none of it is what I would consider poetic, so I was super excited to discover Blackout Poems.
Much like sculpting, blackout poems allow us to start with what's there and chip away at it to reveal the beauty underneath.
You can find out more about blackout poem's in Austin Kleon's great TedX talk here
The Activity: Chip away at the news to reveal a poem
You can do this digitally or with a big fat black marker, which might be more satisfying.
Step 1 - Get the news
Get a piece of news. This can be a newspaper, or a print out of an article, or a screenshot of the homepage of a newspublication.
Step 2 - Get rid of the negativity
With a black marker, or by pasting black squares, black out all the negative words. Start word with the big words, and only leave behind words that represent something positive or beautiful. By leaving some filler words, see if you can connect your words.
You can also start by highlighting the positive words first, and then chipping away at all the rest.
Step 3 - Read out your poem
Read out your poem. How does it feel reading this peom in comparison to reading the news only a few minutes ago?
My Example
I chose the Guardian homepage for my canvas, because I love a good challenge.
The news on there today are sufficiently depressing to say the least. Here is the original screenshot:
There was a lot I could scratch out immediately. Then I started scanning for happy words. I ended up finding more than I expected, and they also seemed to group around a certain theme.
I then went on the hunt for filler words that would give my poem some flow, and here is the result.
The homepage of a website doesn't quite flow as chronologically as an article would, so I'm rearranging a little bit to give you my final poem:
Friday, 12 August 2022
Sunshine, 26 degrees
Home.
Step into a house.
Man held his live baby.
Living is enough.
Family wins.
Just let it flow.
I love it so much. I full on Mary Kondo'd the news, and now they just spark joy. I'll never read the news without a black marker ever again.
Happy blacking out to you, and I'd love to hear your peom in the comments!