Blackout Poetry is one of my go-to activities for prayer stations and creative reflection. The idea is that you start with a page of words and cross most of them out, leaving a new message. You can use all sorts of things for the original words (newspapers, book pages, old Bibles or hymnals on their way to the recycling bin, printed copies of any of the above…).
I recently found this one hidden between pages of a book in my office, tucked away for so long I honestly don’t know when or where I made it. (Though chances are good it was either a campus ministry gathering or a camp retreat.) The printed words are “Jacob’s Blessing” by Jan Richardson, inspired by Genesis 32: 22-32.
blessing comes
beyond every landmark.
Stretch yourself
into
dancing.
Whenever or wherever this blackout poem-prayer came to be, I was struck by how much it still speaks to me now. So I’m letting it simmer, and we’ll see what comes.
Want to give blackout poetry a try? Here are step-by-step instructions you can use yourself or print out as a prayer station for your community.
Supplies:
- starter words (newspapers, old book pages, printed Scriptures or poems, etc)
- markers
- optional: pencils (handy for the initial underlining/circling if folks don’t want to jump straight to markers)
- optional: blackout poetry examples (a Google image search will give you lots!)
- Read or skim over the words on the page, noticing what words or phrases stand out. pay attention to the words, phrases, or general themes that you like.
- Go over the words again, underlining or circling the ones that stood out to you.
- Use a marker to cross out the words you didn’t circle.
- Doodle or embellish as you like, but keeping it simple is fine too!
- See what emerges. Let it be a poem. Let it be a prayer. Let it be a gift.
Rev. Allison Wehrung 
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