‘The 100′ #31 – Altered Books, Part 2 – Discovered Poetry

Altered Book poetry is ‘discovered’ by eliminating unwanted text on a book’s page and emphasizing the text elements that will compose a poem. The creative elimination and emphasizing process varies from artist to artist. Here are some examples from my collection that I think work well, in imaginative approach, integration with visual elements and poetic form:  Click on images for larger version.

First, a page from the master of this form, British artist, Tom Phillips, from his famous altered book, A Humument. (see my post ‘The 100′ #9 for more details). Credit: humument.com

Next, a clever, neatly done conceptual poem by Will Ashford – Credit to: neatloaf.blogspot.com

This is one of my own ‘discovered’ poems:

And this, a visually pleasing poem called “Drops Fall”. Credit to: beginningofajourney.wordpress.com

The next piece is a whimsical, minimalist poem from westofdodge88. Credit to: logolalia.com

And this is a grunge finished found poem by an ex student of mine, Justin. Thank you Justin, wherever you are now.

And finally, an altered book found poem by another famous and brilliant book artist, Brian Dettmer (see my post, ‘The 100′ #28 for more details). His poem is ‘discovered’ by detailed and careful cutting away of unwanted text.

‘The 100′ series was initiated by my 100th Post in April 2012. As text and images are the essence of my blog my intention is to present 100 pieces of textual art from historical and contemporary artists and from my own hand. To view the series to date click on ‘The 100’ in my Category Menu.