Here’s my second attempt at Erasure Poetry which is a type of Found Poetry. My first attempt was just an abridgement of the text!
I have used the text from ‘The Voyage Out‘, the first novel by Virginia Woolf from erasures.wavepoetry.com. It’s a useful website with a number of interesting texts (and poems derived from them), to practice erasure poetry. I don’t know how much I’ll pursue this particular form but I have tried another way of jumpstarting my creativity by fusing free-write and found poetry which was rather fun (poem: Ramble On! Sing That Song!).
Poem: Stranded

The sun down, dusk at the
hours to kill-
coffee and cigarettes,
unusually dull.Plump animals
had been fed
their silence
in the lion-house,
hippopotamuses, swine, some loathsome reptiles–
mauled.Glance fixed
points at you
whichever way
you approach
them, that fixed
attention too far
to hear.
Original text:


Thanks for sharing an example and discussion of this fascinating technique. (I am now tempted to try making erasure poetry out of the lyrics of songs by Erasure.) Since you don’t seem to want to take credit for it, might I ask from where, or from whom, you found out about it?
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I heard about Erasure poetry from a classmate in my poetry class, who also gave me the link to the website I’ve mentioned in the post. There’s also a blogger here on WP who I’ve seen use it: Adam Byatt https://afullnessinbrevity.wordpress.com (search term: Blackout poetry).
As for the lyrics-based poem it’s my own invention. The idea just came to me one day when I wanted to write a poem but I had no words except the lyrics of songs that had been playing on my Spotify playlist. I look forward to your take on it.
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Thanks for directing my attention to the links in the original post (sorry I missed that detail earlier).
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Ah! I think I misunderstood your thought on making an erasure poem out of song lyrics. I thought you were referring to the link I posted about my found poem from song lyrics (not made by erasure). I’m sorry about that. Your idea would lead to some fascinating poems I’m sure. I look forward it.
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Bonjour!! Mon Ami.
If there is someone whom i wanna meet in person from the blogging world then its’ you. Yes. you have heard it right it’s “SAM RAPPAZ”:) The kinda command you have over the language and vocabulary is just amazing:) You are an inspiration for me:) (y). And i mean it sam:)
Me gusta.
Cheers!!
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Wow Upen! Thank you for such a heartfelt wish. I am truly honoured that you would consider me worth meeting when there are so many talented voices (better than me) here on WP. I am happy to have you as a loyal reader and we inspire each other. Cheers 🙂
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There is lot to learn from your blogg:) You deserve more sam:) (y)
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Your attempt made me speechless. Continue the good work.
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Thank you 🙂
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Amazing form of poetry. Love it. Keep going. 👌😊
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Thank you. I hope to.
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What a great idea. And you’ve sculpted a great piece of work from it Sam. You are doing such a great job!
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Thank you Desley 🙂 I am happy to share all the quirky creative writing ideas I come across. The response has always been heartwarming. And, I’m always surprised afterwards that it helped/mattered to people. I am enjoying this. xxxx
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Do what you love and love what you do. Right?! Xx
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Always! 🙂
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I love this style of working – so simple, I must have a go! It combines poetry, wordplay and art – really good!
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I’m glad you liked it Mike. It’s interesting to not hear the author and see the words just as they are, and surprisingly this actually made me appreciate the text and its author even more
I look forward to your poem.
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Yes, then the wordplay will be unique as a result. I also like the 7x7x7x7 idea too: 7th book in you book case, 7th page, 7th line then write 7 line poem based on what you find!
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Ah! Interesting. I’ll try it one of these days. Thank you so much for the tip.
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I really like this, and you pulled your own thoughts out of it well. I’ll have to give this form a try.
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Thank you. It was an interesting exercise. I look forward to reading your efforts, I am sure you’ll do a wonderful job.
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Perfect! Very interesting style of presenting it. You are always different with your posts! I am learning from you!
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Thank you so much. What a lovely compliment. I am learning a lot from everyone here as well. 🙂
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Absolutely brilliant.
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Thank you 😀
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What a fab idea, I might have to steal this method for myself… You have mastered it completely though, it’s amazing how it sounds so coherent and original.
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Thank you Laura, for such a kind comment! I’ll be very glad to see what you come up with and not really my idea but okay, I shall take credit shamelessly 😀
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Oh you most certainly can, lots of people will have learnt about it today thanks to you! 🙂
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I wanted to say many things… However, speechless… Want to say awesome… But, that’s too a small word in front of your work. Keep up the good work my dear friend. Love to you ❤ 🙂
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Aw Nimmi, you make me blush 🙂 Take care hon and lots of love coming your way.
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You too take car my dear 🙂 Hugs ❤
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I’ve not come across this before, and you’ve done well with it, but I can’t really see the point. There was a game we played as boys called ‘book cricket’, where letters, symbols and numbers in texts were converted to wickets, ways of getting out, byes, runs, etc. Not that that is at all relevant to your effort, but it made me think of this. 🙂
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I suppose it’s to do with seeing a new poem or symbol inside a block of text. It can be quite shocking and it changes how we remember these texts. One of the most famous books with such poems being “Nets” by Jen Bervin where she erases Shakespeare’s sonnets.
Also, I played book cricket in school during “free periods” – was so much fun! We had pages in our “rough notebook” dedicated to these matches. 😀 Thank you for reminding me.
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I completely forgot the part about it being found poetry!! This is DEFINITELY on my to do list. I’m a day behind though 😦 and time isn’t on my side. Tomorrow I have a date with erasure.
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No problem! I missed a couple of “days” because the forms need more work (ballad; ode). I’ve written odes before on this site and I’ve been practicing the devices for these “days” (anaphora;apostrophe) in different forms so I thought it better to not bother for now. 🙂
I look forward to your erasure!
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Yeah some forms take a bit more attention, I wanted to give it a good try and grow from it. Not just whipping one up for the sake of ticking a box.
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The picture drew me in, Its a really clever form and looks so so appealing. It came out really nicely. Erasure you say scribbles into his journal Nice work Sam. I love that your experimenting.
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I am glad you enjoyed it Saili. It’s definitely an interesting form and helps look at words differently when I I am feeling all used up. 🙂
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So the words are there. It’s like carving out a nice ornament. The whole body of stone or wood is there hiding a story, a thousand stories for all we know, and you just whittle out yours.
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Exactly! And keep the author’s punctuation to make matters more difficult (or fun, as you wish to see it).
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I’m tempted to whip one up enforce bed, if time allows. I’m hesitant to post twice in one day so I’ll schedule it for the morrow, nice and early like.
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That’s pretty dern cool. I find this kind of poetry interesting. Even intriguing. I’m going to check that site out. Great job.
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Thank you! I hope you have fun with it. 🙂
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i really like the way that last stanza came out. this was fun (and erased Virginia Woolf to boot!).
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Thank you! 🙂 It was fun!
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