The Banyan Review has picked up a trove of my erasure poems! These poems are similar, but different from my past erasures. I’ve been working on a new style of erasure, where the original text is present and readable, and these are the first published in this new style. What I like about these is that being able to read the original text creates a palimpsest affect, where there is interplay between the original text and the new text.
This idea of creating a palimpsest came from a class I took from the poet Kimberly Blaeser, as well as from readers who kept trying to read the original text in my older erasures.
If you find yourself struggling with a few junctures in my erasures, not knowing which direction to take for the “official” reading, don’t worry. Part of the joy of reading an erasure is the misreadings that can be created. No text – even fiction – is complete on the page, but rather, it is completed through the reader’s eyes and mind.
The Banyan Review also asked for a reading. On their website, you’ll also find a video of me reading two of my erasure poems.
Here is the link: http://www.thebanyanreview.com/issue6-summer-2021/ted-snyder-banyan-review-summer-2021/