"Erasure poetry" is taking an existing poem and selectively deleting words from it until a new work is formed. Unethical? Possibly. Illegal? That depends on your base material. Challenging and fun? Yup, yup. Here's what I did to Shelley's sonnet "Ozymandias" -
Man A
A traveller
Two legs
Stand in desert
Half a frown
And wrinkled lip
Well read
Yet lifeless
Mocked heart
These words:
"My name is
...despair!"
Nothing remains
Of that
Far away
I think you'll agree that was truly awful :-) "Ozymandias" seemed an appropriate candidate for partial burial, but even I'm not sure what "Man A" is on about. DGNers are encouraged to submit their undoubtedly superior poetic erasings in the comments section.
Lay my human arm;
ReplyDeleteTime away from the grave
Proves the child:
But my arms break
Let the lie, Mortal,
entirely beautiful.
body bounds
lovers lie
Her slope ordinary,
Grave sends supernatural sympathy;
Wakes the rocks
The sensual ecstasy.
The Second Coming by WB Yeats (Filthy Edition)
ReplyDeleteTurning
widening
loosed everywhere
the worst passionate intensity.
Coming at hand.
Coming! Hard
a vast waste of body and head
moving its thighs.
I know That sleep,
rough beast come,
born?