Apropos my investigation into form; today I’d like to share this great post from Gwarlingo:

Mary Ruefle: I have resisted formal poetry my whole life, but at last found a form I can’t resist. It is like writing with my eyes instead of my hands.

Ruefle is one of today’s most admired practitioners of erasure poetry–the creation of a new text by disappearing the old text that surrounds it. You can read more about Reufle and her technique here: A Sunday Poem Exclusive : The Debut of Mary Ruefle’s Erasure “Melody”

Mary Ruefle: I’ve made thirty-two erasure books and given many to friends as gifts; one has been published, and several sold into private collections. One or two of the books work when read aloud in public, but most of them don’t. I can’t imagine ever stopping making them, and I hope to be working on one when I die.

Melody: The Story of a Child © Mary Ruefle. Scans of Melody by Michelle Aldredge for Gwarlingo.

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