Blackout poetry is a great way repurpose old books and express ourselves using various artforms, inviting us to create from an outside source with the words we're given. This allows us to explore how we feel about words we might not have otherwise considered. It also takes away the pressure of spelling and printing words, so it works really well for kids who are learning to read and people with learning disabilities or dexterity challenges. This version combines our own thoughts with blackout poetry, inviting us to explore our thoughts and feelings at a deeper level.
Start by tuning into your body. You might want to lie down or sit comfortably and close your eyes, maybe there’s a specific type of music, stretch or breathing that helps you tune out the outside world and focus in. If you have trouble focusing you might want to hold a stone in your hand or play with a stretchy band.
Notice if there is any tightness in your body. Any aches or parts that need attention? Is your body giving any cues that it might need food or water? Check in with each part and ask what it needs, if doing this with children you could take turns asking each other and let it get a bit silly. You might notice something physical, my feet really need to take these socks off or metaphorical, my heart needs a hug. Just pay attention to what your body is telling you and allow yourself to listen and meet these needs.
Once you’re feeling tuned into your body, ask yourself or your child a broad, open ended question; what do you think about…..How are you feeling about….What’s been on your mind lately? “Do you want to tell me all about Minecraft” works too.
Take a few minutes to write a stream of consciousness, just write exactly what comes to mind. Children can sometimes get stuck on spelling or how the letters look, distracting from the ideas so they might want to use voice to text or have an adult scribe for them.
Look at what you’ve written, you don’t need to read it or make any sense of it, just choose a page if you have more than one and circle any words that stand out to you.
Avoiding your circled words, use a pencil to lightly cover all the rest of the writing, as you’re doing this you might find that some words stand out and you don’t want to cover them, that’s okay go with your instincts.
Pay attention to the sensations you feel in the body as you read the words you chose. Do you notice any discomfort or sensations indicating fear, hope, clarity or comfort as you see each word? How does it feel to say them out loud? Do the words that bring a physical sensation to the body have any meaning for you? Are there any themes you notice coming up? This could be something you want to explore further. Do you notice a general feeling that comes with the words as you read them all together? You might decide you want to cover some of your words, you ask yourself why. If these words feel uncomfortable you might want to pull that thread and see what comes up or you might just want that word covered. Nothing needs to make sense right now, this is your art and you know what you want to do with it.
There are different ways to create your poem and there is no right or wrong way to do it. Ask yourself what you want to do next. You might want to use paint or markers to draw a picture or design over your covered words or maybe you want to use images cut from magazines or your own photos to create a collage around your words. You could also cut your words out and rearrange them onto a new paper or write them out again, noticing which words you might want to make bigger or smaller, is there one word that really sticks out? Or do the words together bring another word or image to mind?
When you feel your artwork is complete think of the original question you thought of before your stream of consciousness, does your art give you any answers? What does it tell you?
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