Every year, April celebrates National Poetry Month. It’s a time where this beautiful and mysterious form of writing is properly acknowledged. Some writers, like Savannah Brown, celebrate by hosting a poetry writing challenge, encouraging all writers to give poetry a try each day in April by providing prompts and sharing their work with a community. (Learn more about Savannah Brown’s Escapril here: https://www.instagram.com/letsescapril/?hl=en) Warner Library is celebrating National Poetry Month by hosting a Black Out Poetry Contest.

Black Out Poetry is the act of taking a previously printed page, find significant words or words that tell a story that is different from what is originally printed, and blacking out the rest of the words. The pages can come from newspapers, magazines, unwanted books, an advertisement, etc. (basically anything with words that can be written on). The most popular way of blacking out the unneeded words are simply with black lines, but any way is valid as long as the reader understands what words are and are not to be read.

Here are some examples:

Warner Library’s Poetry Contest began at the end of April, and will be running until this Sunday. The winner will receive a $25 gift card to Gryphon Cafe, a popular place right near Eastern University. All students – traditional or online – may enter. We look forward to reading your poetry, and we will be selecting a winner on Tuesday, May 2nd.

Happy writing!

Learn more about Black Out Poetry: https://www.richlandlibrary.com/blog/2021-04-15/introduction-blackout-poetry#:~:text=This%20form%20of%20redacted%20poetry,the%20articles%20in%20unexpectded%20ways.