I recently finished Silver Birch Press' Noir Erasure Poetry Anthology and thoroughly enjoyed it.
For those who may not know, erasure poetry is where a poet takes a section or page(s) of text that has already been written or printed, then erases (blacks-out) words within that text. The words that remain are what make up the newly created poem.
For this anthology, forty-six poets were asked to create erasure poems using text from pages of books by noir authors like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. A poet could choose a noir author, then use any page from a book by that author to create his or her erasure poem. The result is an interesting mix that pays homage to both the works of the noir genre and the poetic form.
The outside of the book is nicely presented with white text on a black cover, which I can't help but see as a nod to the noir era. The inside contains an introduction and a list of the poets along with the page number the poem appears on. I appreciated how there was also a page listing all of the noir authors used in the book and the page numbers where poems created from their works appeared on. Pages containing poems also referenced the author and book where the specific page used to make the poem is from.
The final pages of the book contain informative write-ups about the noir authors used in the anthology as well as bios for the contributing poets. The book as a whole seems to have been put together with care, reflecting an apprecation for both the noir genre and for the poets involved in the project.
Aside from the actual poems, what I enjoyed most about this book was the layout used to display the poets' contributions: Each poem was presented separately on its own, but there was also a photocopy of the corresponding book page the poet physically altered/erased to create that poem. Many of these page alterations were done by hand, making for a uniquely tangible, personal connection to the poet and the way the they approached the words on the page. Having both the altered original book page and the finished poem side-by-side were fantastic compliments each other.
The newly created poems varied in length, format and mood. Some poems seemed to have been created more at random, going for more of a surreal effect; others appeared to be approached from a more conventional standpoint and went for more concrete ideas. Some were very short and used very little of the available text while others were long and used not just individual words but whole sentences at a time from the original text.
Regardless of the method of creation, all of the poems were enjoyable to read and it was fascinating seeing words from the noir genre authors being transformed into poetic form. As a collection, the unpredictability from poem to poem created a sort of enigmatic atmosphere that fit the genre it was attached to.
This was very intriguing to have such a range of moods set against the backdrop and language of the noir genre, which, to different degrees of permeation, affected the creative poetic works produced in this fine anthology.
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