BETWIXT AND BETWEEN

I had a feeling a few days ago that I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary. It had always been the usual; saving the world, feeding the hungry, fostering world peace, ugh, you name it. Same old same old.

There were so many things I had wanted to do it felt like there’s a massive urge or a push lurking around somewhere. Like that one unexpected episode on Valentine’s day when I had the urge to shove into my mouth every chocolate and sweet given to me by friends and coworkers and so I did and the last whole piece was already in my mouth ready to be swallowed before I realized nothing else was left to be taken home with me.

A hormonal thing? Maybe. Or maybe not. I was confused.

Going about with my daily fix of endless scrolling on my Tumblr‘s dashboard one day, I chanced upon Tyler Knott. I have been following him via Tumblr for almost a year now and he has since become the man of my dreams. How is that?

Oh, Tyler. Marry me?

A photographer and a poet, Tyler writes Daily Haiku on Love and makes blackout poems. I’m a sucker for poetic love confessions and I dig men whose artistic skills I want to imbibe so you can see why things just didn’t work out between me and Burglar.

Reading Tyler’s work brings back the teenage days of when I used to diligently write poems, one of which you can read here. But you know what they say about ourselves being our own worst critic, right? And much as I had wanted to write a poetic sensation, one day I just lost the spark for it. I have managed to keep some of the poems I wrote from 2005 to 2007 over at my Tumblr page though, so feel free to read them. But don’t laugh!

A frustrated poet, you say? And that I think I am. Inspiration seemed to had been on vacation since 2007. I waited and waited and waited for many years until two days ago when I read Tyler Knott’s entry of the day – a blackout poem.

Some of you, when I posted my lousy first attempt at blackout poetry, raised a speculative eyebrow. Blackout poetry? What is that?

Well, remember the resolution I have come up to petering out my fear in the backspace key? Austin Kleon has had his own ways, too.

You should know by now that I got the hots for four-eyed men with stubble.

He vented his frustrations with writing by picking up a copy of The New York Times, selecting the words that he was looking for on there, and slashing the rest of the words with the use of a sharpie, thereby creating what seems like a redacted document, only that they read like a poem.

Interesting, eh? But one sad statement is that newspapers are already dead to me, so I don’t use it. Some use books for their blackouts, but that to me is from hell. Never would I wantonly destroy my beloved and treasured books all for this art. Just no. Ah-ah! Moreover, I don’t have many markers. In fact, I don’t use a pen nowadays. You can’t see one inside my bag, let alone a marker.

So, I thought of using online texts/clippings. What I do is print-screen a page or an excerpt and paste it to MS Paint and there I start doing the blacking out.

I’m currently reading Emma by Jane Austen and my second attempt at blackout poetry was taken from its first five paragraphs. It’s really up to you if you want to scan the clipping first or treat it as a blank canvas. No theme. Never have, so said Austin. The aim is to just look for the words that appeal to you.

What I most love about blackouts is you not only get to make a poem; you also get to create a design. The typography and typeface fascinate me.

Then again, there are several people who turn their nose up at this blackout thingy. Is it really ‘art’, so they ask.

*awkward silence*

Well, what do you think?

Anyway my point is, the guys above and their work have been serving as my inspiration lately. The long wait, I think, is over. Of course, my interests are bound to change but let these blackouts become my thing in the meantime.

I must say I am also greatly inspired by the writers/friends I have met here on WordPress, special shout out to Ben Naga and Nelle, who seem to not run out of creative juices. What’s more, they are all very transparent about their processes. Most of the writers I have been following here are open about their techniques and how they write. I like to be educated so I like that about them very much. That’s the real treat, methinks.

This blackout poetry is, indeed, that urge. I feel like some sort of passion may have been ‘shining through’.

What about you, ladies and gentlemen? Have you ever had the urge to stick a pencil up your nose? Maybe you should. All the cool peeps are doing it.