I started creating Blackout Poems in 2012, when I viewed pieces created by Austin Kleon online. Over the years, I’ve created hundreds of works from a dozen different sources.
The point of this poetry is to re-imagine what is already written. It involves taking a text – be it a second-hand book, or an ephemeral text such as a newspaper or magazine article, one that would likely never be read again – and turning it into something that can be read once more in a new light. It is an exercise about learning to work within parameters, as there are only a limited amount of words to choose from.
Books are not made to last forever – they are created to be read in a moment. It is the words and sentiments that we carry with us. My Blackout Poetry can seem at times surreal and removed from reality, yet I try to base a lot of it on things I have personally felt and experienced. These Blackout Poems are as much about the words they leave behind as the blocked out spaces around them, which stand to prove that there is importance not only in what is said, but in what is unsaid.
Lily submitted her work ‘Blackout Poetry: New Moon Series’ into the Interhall Art Show. You can view more of her Blackout Poetry at http://incourages.tumblr.com/.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.