Meg and I spent a good bit of the weekend going over the first pass of Newspaper Blackout. “First pass” is the author’s first chance to see the book all typeset and designed and actually looking like it will when it’s printed as a book. It looks really, really great. There are a few changes still, but it’s so incredibly close to being ready.

And still, 24 weeks to pub date…

A paraphrase of Flannery O’Connor.

In-progress:

Four years ago today I made my first newspaper blackout poem, and to celebrate the anniversary, I’m giving away a signed, limited-edition print of “Overheard On The Titanic,” hand silkscreened by my friend, painter and printmaker Curtis Miller:

YouTube: Silkscreening Newspaper Blackout Prints

There were only 18 of these babies made: one is hanging on the wall in my library, sixteen are in a flat file waiting to be sold in the distant future, and one could belong to you.

All you have to do is leave a nice comment below, or tweet with the hashtag #newspaperblackout some time in the next week before next Monday, Oct. 26th, Midnight CT. I’ll pick the winner at random.

The giveaway is now closed. Congrats to the winner, Matt Wilson, and thanks to everyone who entered! More contests to come.

After that, you can browse the new Newspaper Blackout Archives or read my favorite poems from 2006-2008.

Thanks so much to everyone for reading! Y’all rock.

Buy my book and more prints in the store

Buy prints and pre-order the book in the store

Read about the book

Buy prints in the store

Every once in a bombed moon, I make a poem I like…

Buy my 20×200 prints

photo by Laurence Musgrove

I’m thrilled to be getting e-mails and tweets from folks who are receiving their 20×200 prints!

We’ve sold over 100 prints since last Tuesday.

Here’s a “gratuitous unboxing” post from Mark Larson:

photo by Mark Larson

Love this twitpic by Marty Smith :

Also, as I mentioned on Twitter, for the 8×10 prints, you can’t go wrong with this cheap $10 RIBBA frame from IKEA:

The mat makes for a lot of nice whitespace around the poem.

Meg and I hung our (more extensive) collection of blackout prints in our library last weekend:

Would love to see more pics from y’all when you get your prints—where did you decide to hang them? E-mail me, tweet with the tag #newspaperblackout, or post in the comments.

[ Prints still on sale at 20x200! ]

Buy the book and prints in the store

Found this file on my hard drive: it’s a sped-up video of me flipping through the binder that contains every single blackout poem that went in the book.

Visit the store.

Buy prints in the store