Erasure Song

Day 11: "Erasure poetry — also known as blackout poetry — is written by taking an existing text and erasing or blacking out individual words. Here’s a great explainer with examples, and you’ll find another here. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own erasure/blackout poem."

I turned to today's page in the book Everyday Nature by Andy Beer, and found it featured the Willow Warbler. I was sceptical about this technique at first,  but it discovered it can yield some surprisingly evocative results. 

Erasure Song

     birdsong 
               a rapid descending trill
                                           soft as summer rain
                                tune in
get to know              willow warbler                delight

     you                                       see one                      pale
brownish, skulking            
                              filling woods and parks with       song.




   © Copyright 2026. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved
                   

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