It is a Friday,
three days after I go straight–
and I don’t know who will
walk up the street to
see the poets these days.
I go on, and he
doesn’t even look up.
I get a little ink,
but I don’t go to sleep.
I just stroll into the lane
and ask where
I came from,
in the heat.
I am sweating
and thinking of
leaning on John,
while he whispered.
He stopped.
-Pen Connor 2015
—–
POETIC FORM: An Erasure Poem
—–
PROMPT:
To earn the “Redacted” badge, visit http://www.erasures.org and follow the directions to drag the blackout icon to your tool bar. From there, navigate to a website or other source text. Click on the blackout icon to activate the tool, then use your mouse to highlight words on the screen. As you highlight sections and release your mouse, you will see a black bar appear over them, digitally blacking them out. Leave only the words that comprise your poem exposed. Take a screenshot(s) of your finished product and post it to the site. To learn how to take a screenshot based on your operating system, visithttp://www.take-a-screenshot.org/. Credit your source text at the bottom of your post.
—–
PoMoSco (Poetry Month Scouts)
Found Poetry Review’s 2015 National Poetry Month Project
– April 2015 – 213 poets joined together as a troop to earn digital merit badges for completing experimental and found poetry prompts.
– Prompts are divided into five categories – remixing, erasure, out and about, conceptual and chance operation.
– Each category offers six distinct badges to be earned.
– Poets choose their own source text.
– For more information, check out pomosco.com.
A dear friend and fabulous poet, Von Thompson, is a participant. When she told me about the challenge, I decided to play along at home.
—–
SOURCE TEXT:
The Poetry Foundation (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171368)
Frank O’Hara, “The Day Lady Died” from Lunch Poems. Copyright © 1964 by Frank O’Hara. Reprinted (on the Poetry Foundation site) with the permission of City Lights Books.
Source: The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara (1995)
Pen's Ink 