Blacked out: Writer is turning celeb sexual misconduct statements into ‘Blackout Poetry’

Cassandra Fairbanks   |  

Nov 15, 2017

A poet has been printing out the statements from powerful celebrities regarding sexual misconduct and turning them into powerful erasure poetry.

The poet has reworked the statements from Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K., Harvey Weinstein, Richard Dreyfuss and many more.

Erasure poetry is a genre in which the writer takes a block or passage of words and blacks out large portions, leaving a short passage remaining. In this case, the writer is leaving text that reveals “a revelation of hidden intent in a text I find questionable,” the poet, Isobel O’Hare told Fast Company.

The works have been gaining a large amount of attention on social media, even catching the attention of Weinstein’s most vocal accuser, Rose McGowan.

“I came of age in a culture of demons I respect more than women,” Weinstein’s statement was blacked out to read.

https://twitter.com/isobelohare/status/930150856594354178

“I ignored reality for eons,” Dreyfuss’ poem reads.

https://twitter.com/isobelohare/status/930106329607282689

“There are stories about me that have been fueled by my own behavior,” O’Hare’s edit on Spacey’s statement was edited to say.

https://twitter.com/isobelohare/status/929736655799386112

“My dick is a question I run from,” C.K.’s poem asserts.

O’Hare explained to Fast Company that she became inspired after noticing similar language and phrasing in each statement.

“I started noticing, while reading these statements, that many of them used similar language,” O’Hare explained. “There was a theme of ‘that was the culture then’ and sexist language like ‘these women’ kept appearing. I wanted to draw attention to that and to show what the men writing these statements didn’t realize they were revealing about themselves.”