An erasure poem is part of a tradition of using pre-existing texts, stripping away some of the words, and revealing a new creation with what remains. The erasure part echoes the kind of blacking out of text used when classified information is made public. A good definition can be found on the Found Poetry Review’s website at http://www.foundpoetryreview.com/about-found-poetry.

My erasure poem comes from page 46 of the book The Art of the Deal, attributed to but not really written at all by Donald Trump. Continue reading →