JULY 5, 2023: WRITING COLOR-OUT POEMS

WITH SOME SPECIAL KIDS

(you know who you are)

We looked at color-out poems  by California poet Ruth Baveta and poet Cat Russell, from right here in Canal Fulton,Ohio, And we also looked at color out poems that kids created here in Canton two summers ago at the "All Together Now" festival 

By Ruth Baveta

By Cat Russell

Then, choosing from ten different pages of prose, we went to work, looking to pick out words that would make a poem, remembering that it didn't have to be a story. It could be a feeling or an image or a fragment. First, we circled the words with pencil, then we went over that with a black pen, either in a circle or a square, something to make the word "pop." 

Finally, we colored out the words we didn't use, though someone pointed out you could sort of see them there underneath, like ghostwords or whispered words. Some of us pasted them on posterboard and decorated the frame.

Then we had our publication celebration. Everybody got a decorative headpiece. (Fancy headbands or baseball caps). And snacks. And a demo and photo of their color out poem:

Everyone left with a journal and a bag of writing and art materials to keep making art in  the days to come.

JULY 5, 2023: WRITING CUT-OUT POEMS

WITH SOME SPECIAL KIDS

(you know who you are)

Handed an envelope of random words, a poster board, and a glue stick, we created some trenchant statements and wild nonsense that the Dadaists would love.