erase

Doctoring Dobbs is an experiment in critical play as well as an invitation for others to explore the art of erasure.

Erasure is a creative activity that requires very little to get started—a source, an “eraser” of some sort, and your imagination. Erasure has surged in popularity in recent years, along with countless how-to-guides and ready-made books to erase. Yet part of erasure’s appeal is that there are no rules and endless possibilities. In this spirit, I offer open-ended prompts below to help you define your own approach to erasure.

I would love to hear about your erasure experiences and see your creations! Please visit the erasure submission form to share. If you would like to erase Dobbs, here is a free copy. 

reflect.

Your imagination is the engine of creativity. Getting to know yourself better can provide a useful guide as you play with erasure. Consider these questions as you get started:

• • What attracts you to erasure? What concerns you?
  • What feelings do you have about altering sources?
  • What do you hope to experience during this process?
  • What are you called to erase? 
  • What do you believe needs revealing? 

Erasure can be a revelatory process of coming to see yourself and the world anew. Consider these questions once you dive in:

• • What is the erasure process like for you? 
  • How would you describe erasure to someone unfamiliar?
  • How might you approach erasing next time? Why?

select a source.

Everything is a source. Anything with writing is a candidate for erasure, e.g., newspapers, novels, cereal boxes, speeches, diary entries, consent forms, pill bottles, dictionaries, religious texts, FBI affidavits, or DNA tests. As you gather ideas, reflect on how you relate to the source, how you feel about it (e.g., curious, excited, bored, neutral, frustrated), and how you feel about erasing it. These insights can clarify how you may want to approach the content in your erasure, such as by honoring, challenging, or transforming.

“Be ready to see what you haven’t seen before.” – Corita Kent, Learning by Heart

choose words.

Anything is possible. Follow your attractions, interests, ideas, and voice as you choose words to keep and to cut. Here are some steps that helped me along the way.

Read. Familiarize (and de-familiarize) yourself with source material in as many ways as you can. You might do so by:

• • scanning for words that make you giggle, are of unknown meaning, bring an idea or image to mind, bother you.
  • noticing patterns in repeated words, rhyme, alliteration, tone, letters, punctuation
  • researching the content for understanding, or ignoring completely
  • reading in unconventional directions

Mark. Circle, underline, or highlight words that you find interesting. What kinds of words are you attracted to, e.g., nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, words hidden within other words?

Review. What connections are forming among the marked words? What ideas, images, stories, and statements do they generate in your mind? Jot down phrases in the margins or in a notebook to help track your thoughts. 

Look. Where are the words in proximity to each other? English reads left to right and top to bottom, though your poem doesn’t need to follow this convention. The visual proximity and order of the words may impact how you compose your message. 

Hone. Pick a few ideas and develop them into full statements by locating other words you might need to complete your idea (e.g., find the a’s, the’s, in’s, with’s, s’s, and other helper words). Circle these possibilities.