05/11/12

Writing Reflection #8

I actually really enjoyed the Newspaper Blackout Poetry. I did have a little bit of a problem at first, probably doesn’t help that my first poem was the longest and most definitely the most difficult. I find I was trying to say what I wanted to say rather than finding the words that stood out and letting them speak. Once I realized that there were actually really beautiful poems under the articles I found it a lot easier to just pull out the special words.

I think my biggest problem was actually getting the poems on the construction paper and getting that on the wall. Lefties and scissors just don’t mix nicely.

Now as for the unique qualities of this type of writing; I think I found a few. I really liked the idea of changing something as normal as a newspaper article into something entirely different. I’m pretty sure that’s what the author of the newspaper black out book said too. (Sorry his name is escaping me at the moment.) He was really right, after the few poems I did that has to be my favorite part.

Another thing I liked was just this whole subtractive way of writing. Every other form of writing I know is adding words to a page and making it speak the way you want, and trust me I have nothing against that; I totally love writing my novels. Still taking words away the way this style requires is something totally new to me and I really liked it.

Finally I like how this form of writing is so short and sweet, so to speak. I write novels most commonly and I know I can be very long winded so this type of writing is really something new to me, and I totally love it. I’m not giving up my novel anytime but it definitely changed the way I look at word count.