Creative Destruction

If you are reading this, you are being called to awaken within.

kevinharrell — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 09:29:13 -0400

If you are reading this, you are being called to awaken within.

Seven Billion…

kevinharrell — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 17:06:53 -0400

Seven Billion…

Eternity - by Kevin Harrell

kevinharrell — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 10:28:07 -0400

Eternity - by Kevin Harrell

What are your favorite books to use for blackout poetry?

kevinharrell — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 15:21:06 -0500

Still, my all-time favorite book for blackout poetry is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Can you customise a blackout poetry for me if I submit it to you? I have the poem but i can’t manage to make it in blackout poetry

kevinharrell — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 15:19:50 -0500

Hi, sure I could give it a shot, send me a message with your email and I’ll get in touch. :)

Imagine - A Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell It’s good to get...

kevinharrell — Fri, 25 Aug 2017 01:20:20 -0400

Imagine - A Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell

It’s good to get back into it. More to come! :)

blackoutpoetry: Powerful and Helpless - Blackout Poem by Kevin...

kevinharrell — Tue, 31 May 2016 15:26:27 -0400

blackoutpoetry:

Powerful and Helpless - Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell

Could you do a poem from the Great Gatsby?

Wed, 17 Feb 2016 11:12:40 -0500

Sounds like a cool idea. I’ll try.

hey my planning teacher used one of your pieces on the back of our autobiography assignment just thought i’d let you know

Wed, 17 Feb 2016 11:12:18 -0500

Hey that’s cool. Did he give any credit just curious. I’d like to see it.

austinkleon: “Absent Things As If They Are Present. A History...

kevinharrell — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 07:07:57 -0500

austinkleon:

“Absent Things As If They Are Present. A History Of Literature Created By Erasure, Collage, Omission, And Wite-Out”

Nice long piece by Jeannie Vanasco this month in The Believer (now on Tumblr!) about writing by erasure. A lot of the artists mentioned (Tom Phillips, Mary Ruefle, Thomas Jefferson…) will be familiar to anybody who’s read the history chapter of Newspaper Blackout. (Unfortunately, Blackout was not one of the texts mentioned.)¹

What I like about the piece is that unlike some writers who take an apologetic or condescending tone towards erasures, Vanasco actually champions the form:

Why erase the works of other writers? The philosophical answer is that poets, as Wordsworth defines them, are “affected more than other men by absent things as if they were present.” The More practical answer: compared to writing, erasing feels easy.

But I am here to convince you: to erase is to write, style is the consequence of the writer’s omissions, and the writer is always plural.

To erase is to leave something else behind.

Like Kenneth Goldsmith, Vanasco even uses the form in her creative writing class at NYU (here’s the PDF of the syllabus)

the motto of Modernism, Ezra Pound’s “Make it new,” is a translation of Confucius who borrowed it from Emperor T’ang who inscribed on his bathtub “Every day make it new.” I want you to take existing poems and stories by other writers and make these works new. How? By making them your own. How? By imitating their styles.

She points to Allen Ginsberg, who was very open about his influences:

Ginsberg shows us that by imitating the style of other writers, as well as by resisting them, a writer develops his or her own style. Erasure is simply an exaggerated form of writing. “We say that an author is original when we cannot trace the hidden transformation that others underwent in his mind,” Valery wrote. “What a man does either repeats or refutes what someone else has done—repeats it in other tones, refines or amplifies or simplifies it.” But instead of concealing or denying their influences, erasurists acknowledge that they have come from somewhere, not nowhere, and make clear the chaotic process of creating art.

It’s a great piece — anybody who’s interested in Newspaper Blackout or Steal Like An Artist will enjoy it.

I heard later from Jeannie that Newspaper Blackout was part of a section that had to be cut due to length. :) ↩

kevinharrell: What if - Blackout poetry by Kevin Harrell. This...

kevinharrell — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 02:14:14 -0500

kevinharrell:

What if - Blackout poetry by Kevin Harrell. This is my first piece in about 7 months and it sure feels good to get back into it.

"There are poems inside of you that paper can’t handle."

kevinharrell — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 01:04:54 -0500

“There are poems
inside of you
that paper can’t
handle.”

- Y.Z (via rustyvoices)

Could you maybe add a tag to your posts with the title of the book or other source you blacked out?

kevinharrell — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 00:15:00 -0500

Well I have only a vague recollection of what source most of my old blackout poems were made from but in general I source a lot from Dear Abby newspaper articles, Rolling Stones music reviews, and The Alchemist. But I will add tags for future poems, thanks.

Hey, I love your work, it’s a such a pleasure reading your blackouts :) I started doing some myself a couple of days back actually. They’re on my blog. Could you check them out perhaps? Some tips would be welcome (even though it is creative expression, there’s no one way of doing it)

kevinharrell — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 23:58:45 -0500

Hey thanks a lot I appreciate it. I’m glad you started doing some of your own and I actually went looking for them on your blog but couldn’t find them. Send me a link maybe?

Hi, your blog reminded me of a blackout poem I saw a while ago and I know this is probably a long shot, but I’m wondering if you know what it’s called/where I can find it. It was a report about the state of the environment, but everything negative was blacked out to make it look positive and like everything was just fine. Thanks for your time!

kevinharrell — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 23:53:13 -0500

Hey there! I am not familiar with the piece you are talking about unfortunately but I like the sound of it :)

Live Now - Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell (see more...

kevinharrell — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:51:00 -0400

Live Now - Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell (see more at www.blackoutpoetry.net)

kevinharrell: elytra: blackoutpoetry: Eruption - by Kevin...

kevinharrell — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:31:46 -0400

kevinharrell:

elytra:

blackoutpoetry:

Eruption - by Kevin Harrell

and I wrote it. I wrote it and I write it to say FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. How dare you treat me like that? How dare you think you can just do whatever you want to me? I AM A PERSON. I AM A HUMAN BEING and I AM VALUABLE. I am LOVED. I LOVE people. I CARE about people. I am someone’s DAUGHTER. I am someone’s SISTER. I am someone’s FRIEND.

You cannot just use me. You cannot just do what you want to me. I am a PERSON.

How. fucking. dare you.

Fear me. You have made me so righteously angry that if I ever decide to release my rage upon you, you will fucking suffer for it.

elytra, I just came across this, very powerful. I hope my blackout poem helped you in some way. Stay strong you wonderful person.

kevinharrell: Manifesto - A Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell

kevinharrell — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 12:29:51 -0400

kevinharrell:

Manifesto - A Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell

Hey, I love your blackout poems :) I’ve started doing this recently, I’ll be glad to know what you think of the blackout stories in my blog :)

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:14:42 -0400

I really dig your blackout poetry style, short and sweet! Keep it up, would love to see more!

Cold Heart - Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell

kevinharrell — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:33:43 -0500

Cold Heart - Blackout Poem by Kevin Harrell