by Tynan Drake, Ball State University
An erasure poem is a “poem that sculpts itself out of another larger text” in order to commentate on or derive new meaning from the original text (Brewer, “Erasure and Blackout Poems”). Erasure poems are created by taking choice words or phrases from the source text and deleting everything else in between. This technique can influence the interpretation of the reading by changing the context or be used to enhance the impact of the story by highlighting the most striking components.
This erasure poem was created from the text of Kiara Alfonseca’s article “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, full of ocean plastic, keeps growing” in order to emphasize the growing problem of plastic waste in our oceans. Please read the full article at: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/great-pacific-garbage-patch-full-ocean-plastic-keeps-growing-n859276
Ocean Erasure: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
monster lurking
between Hawaii and California
vast dump plastic waste ocean
growing rapidly a study warned
Ocean Cleanup a problem to understand
non-profit led the initiative
more we thought not too late
Trash Free Seas he sees opportunity
stop plastic waterways
monitor consumption disposal
think about living
end day a people problem
far away foreign always downstream
power changes outflow
stop the course discarded
improve cleanup capture, concentrate
ship the patch back to land debris
meant to kill lost and discarded oceans
damaged ecosystems deadly to life
humans great strides turning around
waste stopping our waterways
awareness is growing
people make an impact
Works Cited
Alfonseca, Kiara. “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, full of ocean plastic, keeps growing.” NBC News, 25 Mar. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/great-pacific-garbage-patch-full-ocean-plastic-keeps-growing-n859276. Accessed 27 Mar. 2018.
Brewer, Robert Lee. “Erasure and Blackout Poems: Poetic Forms.” Writer’s Digest, 21 Nov. 2014, www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/erasure-and-blackout-poems-poetic-forms. Accessed 10 Apr. 2018.