A New Obsession

I ran across Austin Kleon's Newspaper Blackout Poems purely by chance. Can't explain why it captured my imagination so, but after weeks of viewing examples and mulling the process, I gave it a go. I found it worked a great deal like some of the drawing exercises designed to break through blocks. I found it almost meditative. I discovered one could do more with the blacking out than total oblivion. I found I could be creative within a very tight structure, and that this process appeals to that part of me that struggles with a blank page but rises to the challenge of building on something already in the works. You can read more about this and why I settled on obituaries over at my other blog at this post.

I've left the photos with my obits and oftentimes the name of the deceased as well. I find that it's the photos of the departed that draw me more than the words, but the words soon follow. So many people post obituaries with pictures of the deceased at a younger time in their life - that in itself is interesting. We want to be remembered (or remember others) as they were, at some pivotal point in their lives or happier point, anything apparently than this old broken down person that has lived out a full life. Or maybe they just think old friends and family they may not have seen for years wouldn't recognize them. Not everyone does this, of course, but many do. As for the names, sometimes they add insight as well.

There will be very little commentary with my Blackout Obits. I'll let them speak for themselves.