ALL YOU CAN DO
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010This one is from the book.
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Newspaper + Marker = Poetry.
Instead of starting with a blank page, poet Austin Kleon grabs a newspaper and a permanent marker and eliminates the words he doesn’t need.—NPR’s Morning Edition
Newspaper + Marker = Poetry.
This one is from the book.
* * *
Share your own poems on Tumblr
Buy prints | Buy the book | Become a fan | Follow me on Twitter
For a long time I’ve wanted to start a site dedicated solely to the making of Newspaper Blackout Poems, a place where people can go read how-to tips, ask me questions, and then try out their own and share the results.
It didn’t seem right to set up such a thing on my main site. I’m thrilled to have folks making blackout poems, but my site is for my work, and I want to keep it that way.
A man’s domain name is his domain, you know?
Enter the new site. It’s hosted on Tumblr, which not only means that it’s incredibly easy for me to make quick posts and for followers to reblog them, but it also has built-in functionality where people can ask questions and best of all, submit their own poems.
I’ll still be keeping all of my original poems right here, and I’ll still be posting new ones every week, so no need to re-subscribe or anything. But if you’re interested, give it a follow on Tumblr, or subscribe to the RSS feed.
I might post old poems from the archives on the new site. I’m not quite sure yet. Still making it up as I go along.
I’d love to hear what y’all think about it. Feel free to leave me a comment or suggest the types of posts you’d like to see over there.
Okay folks, if you’ve been holding out on buying a print of one of my newspaper blackout poems from 20×200, now’s your chance: they’re having a 20% off sale until noon on Sunday the sale has been extended until 2PM EST Monday!.
Enter the code RIDONK in Google Checkout for 20% off your print order. (See the details.)
That means you could own all three prints for less than $50. An absolute steal.
But even better, $50 prints are now $40, $200 prints are now $160.
The 20×16 inch “Agoraphobia” print looks really damned good, by the way. At $160, that’s the cheapest it’ll ever be. June isn’t THAT far away…it would make a perfect graduation gift. Way cooler than another copy of Oh! The Places You Will Go.
A bunch of folks have ordered the “How It Works” print for Valentine’s Day. (I’m in the 20×200 Valentine’s Guide under “Bookish Babe“–hell yeah, the only kind I like!) There are only 25 left of the $20 editions, so if you want one, better order one now! Only 12 left as of Sunday afternoon!
Those of you who live in or near St. Louis: there will be an art show featuring some digital projections of my blackout poems at The Luminary Center for the Arts starting with an opening reception tomorrow, Saturday, January 30th from 6PM-9PM. The show runs until March 27th.
Unfortunately, I won’t be at the opening reception. Plane tickets ain’t cheap, and with the book coming out soon, I have to save up my travel funds. It’s too bad, because some of my favorite creative fellas live there: Dave Gray, Bill Keaggy, Dan Zettwoch, Kevin Huizenga…it’s a town with a bunch of good brains in it, and I’ve always wanted to visit.
Maybe next time. If you go, take an iPhone snap for me and send it my way.

Almost a haiku.
Many people have expressed interest in originals, and so far, I’ve been really hesitant to give in: after all, newsprint deteriorates, and permanent marker, believe it or not, is not permanent. A print will far outlast the original. I’m not sure how one would preserve newsprint like this—a couple of museum folks are coming by this week, so maybe I’ll ask them. Who knows? It might even be interesting to watch the original slowly disintegrate on your wall.
I’m keeping the broadsheets intact now, just in case. They look like this:

pre-order the book for $10 | buy prints for $20 | become a fan for $0
My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight.—Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millenium
I’ve been doing “bite-size” blackouts to warm up…
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Newspaper + Marker = Poetry. Pre-order it now for $10 on Amazon.com