Creative Writing: Blackout Poetry

by the ABG student authors of Barrio Logan College Institute

The book: The Radius of Us by Marie Marquardt

Ninety seconds can change a life — not just daily routine, but who you are as a person. Gretchen Asher knows this, because that’s how long a stranger held her body to the ground. When a car sped toward them and Gretchen’s attacker told her to run, she recognized a surprising terror in his eyes. And now she doesn’t even recognize herself.

Ninety seconds can change a life — not just the place you live, but the person others think you are. Phoenix Flores-Flores knows this, because months after setting off toward the U.S. / Mexico border in search of safety for his brother, he finally walked out of detention. But Phoenix didn’t just trade a perilous barrio in El Salvador for a leafy suburb in Atlanta. He became that person — the one his new neighbors crossed the street to avoid.

Ninety seconds can change a life — so how will the ninety seconds of Gretchen and Phoenix’s first encounter change theirs?

The prompt: Create an original poem by transforming the pages of The Radius of Us. Find words and phrases that speak to you and make sense from top to bottom. Circle those and cover the rest of the page using illustration or a pure blackout technique.

About the work: Much like the phoenix is reborn from its ashes, students made new meaning from the book’s pages in this transformative creative writing process. In this collection, you’ll find an array of poems written from the words of the same story – a reflection of the way in which we all perceive the world around us differently. In The Radius of Us, we learn that art is a powerful tool for expression from one character who refuses to speak after his traumatic journey to the U.S.; and the poetry here is designed in black and white to honor the illustration style he used to tell his story.

Here are some of the best works: