The not-so-subtle art of blackout poetry

Cross out what you don't believe in.

A few months ago, I stumbled onto blackout poetry. It’s not a new concept but I had completely forgotten it existed. And it sounded like fun! All I needed was text to work from.

I scoured our bookshelf and found a copy of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. I don’t know how I came to acquire this book but let me tell you - I disagree with it wholeheartedly.

Are there maybe some good nuggets in there? Probably. But I’m not about to wade through hundreds of pages of bullshit to pull them out. Especially not when the intro to the book says that not everybody can be extraordinary. I think they can and I think that attitude is defeatist and depressing and will honestly keep people from happiness. Clearly I’m not the target audience.

So I tore the book apart and started making some blackout poetry from it!

Below I have the images of the poetry, the way it’s “meant” to be read and viewed. But I also have it transcribed as text that I broke up into stanzas for accessibility purposes. And, if you find reading the blackout structure confusing, maybe the stanzas will help you, too!

Enjoy it however you prefer and I hope to post more of these soon because they’re really fun!

The Not-So-Subtle Art of Giving a Fuck

Generation superstar
Happier to become adversity
For a rich life.

Honest things live wildly
Working our delusional selves
And world.

Hard-fought wisdom
Groundbreaking research
Turn lemons into lemonade.

Flawed and limited
everybody can be extraordinary.

Know our real source
Embrace uncertainties
We stop to find courage.

---

Try

An alcoholic, gambler, cheapskate
On his worst days
The last person to
Expect any sort of help

A writer rejected
His work crude
Piled up depression
His life a letter and booze

---

Fame

"He he he" that tombstone reads
Fame, success, a tried genius
Shining, unflinching, failing doubt

This is the real story

A failure, a fuck
He still showed up
Hammered, abused in public

Tried to find a better person,
A better person,
Better than the rest.

---

Thank you so much for reading In the Clouds! This is a personal outlet I created to nurture my own creativity and to connect with other artsy people out in the world.

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