Curating Books & Crafting Prose With Blackout Poetry

Here's what I'm doing with my read books (because I can't be bothered with donating them).

I’ve been following various online reading communities for a while now and I’ve always been jealous of those who can find the time to annotate their books so creatively.

They get so into it and when they’re done they’re left with this colorful and fun addition to some of their favorite books. They just look so intense to create. I mean, look at this:

The main thing holding me back from trying something like this is the lack of wanting my personal reading time to feel like homework. I want to enjoy my book and not feel like I need to have an army of highlighters to tackle it.

This mindset is definitely leftover from 10 years in college. I still struggle to pick up certain types of nonfiction books without flinching.

Anywho - I WANT to do something like this, but the effort is intimidating.

And so I had another idea.

All week I’ve been reorganizing my main bookshelves (I’ve got at least one in most rooms of my house, but this is where I house my largest collection). Here’s a picture for proof. Isn’t it pretty?

As I’ve been organizing, I’ve been revisiting books I’ve read — which, to be clear, is not nearly as many of these as I’d like to claim. I’m not a re-reader, usually. The book needs to be really impactful for that. Generally, I like diving into something new when I make the time to read.

Also, I have the very bad habit of owning multiple versions of the books I’ve read in multiple formats - ebook, audiobook, etc. To be honest, if I were to revisit the book, it would probably be on my phone or kindle.

I’ve been confronted with this fact more and more as I took on this massive feat of organization (the before picture was NOT pretty). Why am I holding on to books I’ll likely never read again? Is that wasteful? How can I combat that.

I could donate them. That would probably be the easiest most eco friendly thing to do.

But will I do that?

Nope.

Instead, I’ve decided to create blackout poetry inside the books I’ve read.

I tried out my first one last night. Check it out:

@bookaweekprojectof dark water, she stared, Though the map appeared in glorious color. She reached into the basin. Her heart throbbed and demanded my favor? ————— A little black poetry in a previously read book. #blackoutpoetry #blackoutpoetrycommunity #booktok #atouchofdarkness #scarlettstclair #bookworm #bookstan #WelcomeBack #DoritosTriangleTryout #foryoupage #fyp

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Blackout poetry is the act of taking words on a page of something published and creating poetry. What results is often beautiful unintentional prose.

And as a writer, I love that. I’d love to write more impactful prose, but my mind gets in the way when I’m staring at a blank page. With blackout poetry, the words are already there. I just have to carve them out and shove them together.

Traditionally, blackout poetry is meant to be blacked out. You’re supposed to take a black sharpie and cross out everything except your poem. Like this:

@that._funny_.feelingi don’t deserve you, you deserve the world #booktok #bookish #poem #poetry #blackoutpoetry #fyp

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Some people turn their blackout poetry into more intricate pieces, like this:

@zoekay03“i was a cigarette in his fingers and he was trying to give up smoking” #poetry #blackoutpoetry #fyp #CobraKaiChop

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Or this:

https://medium.com/offbeat-poetry/the-history-of-blackout-poetry-ca8985f04c35

I’m not sure I’ll be able to make myself go that far — what if I actually DO want to reread my book one day?

BUT! I do love the idea of picking up a book and stumbling upon my own creations.

What I really hope is that this exercise fills my need to do something with the books I’ve already read and also inspires more prose in my writing.