Erasure
Poetry
Project

Below is a reading list, compiled by Erasure Poetry Project on erasure poetry – from poetry collections that carry the label “erasure poetry” to scholarship (in the form of essays, articles, and book chapters) that study its form and theorize its practice. 

The list is frequently updated. Do reach out to us at [email protected] to inform us about works on erasure poetry in the US context and beyond (by yourself or others) that should appear on the list.

• A Brief History of Erasure Poetics by Travis Macdonald (2009)

• Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing edited by Craig Dworkin and Kenneth Goldsmith (2011)

• Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruefle (2012)

• Erasure Poetry: Zwischen Poesie und Kunst, Appropriation und Conceptual Writing by Viola Hildebrandt-Schat and Annette Gilbert (2014)

• The Boundaries of the Literary Archive: Reclamation and Representation edited by Carrie Smith and Lisa Stead (2017)

• All You Need Is a Marker Pen!: Textzerstörung als post-avantgardistisches Verfahren in der Gegenwartslyrik by Eva Eßlinger (2023)

• Erasure Poetry: Eine literaturtheoretische Analyse eines gegenwartslyrischen Phänomens by Alexa Bornfleth (2024)

• “Splintered Archives: Versions and Versioning through Erasure Arts and Poetry” by Mahshid Mayar (2025)

• A Humument by Tom Phillips (1970-2016)

• Radi Os by Ronald Johnson (1977)

• Nets by Jen Bervin (2003)

• A Little White Shadow by Mary Ruefle (2006)

• Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip (2008)

• The O Mission Repo by Travis Macdonald (2008)

• The ms of my kin by Janet Holmes (2009)

• Sky Booths in the Breath Somewhere: The Ashbery Erasure Poems by David Dodd Lee (2010)

• Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon (2010)

• Voyager by Srikanth Reddy (2011)

• Of Lamb by Matthea Harvey and illustrated by Amy Jean Porter (2011)

• NOIR: Erasure Poetry Anthology by Jenni B. Baker et al. (2013)

• Sand Opera by Philip Metres (2015)

• all this can be yours by Isobel O’Hare (2019)

• Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin (2019)

• Moonbit by James E. Dobson and Rena J. Mosteirin (2019)

• Shrapnel Maps by Philip Metres (2020)

• Erase the Patriarchy: An Anthology of Erasure Poetry by Isobel O'Hare (2020)

• Her Read, Graphic Poem by Jennifer Sperry Steinorth (2021)

• I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer (2021)

• A Single Drop Was Full: erasure poetry by Shirley Glubka (2022)

• Dark Testaments: Poems by Crystal Simone Smith (2023)

• The Ferguson Report: An Erasure by Nicole Sealey (2023)

• Dead Girl Erased: An Anthology of Erasure Poetry by Gnashing Teeth Publishing (2024)

• Erasing Frankenstein: Remaking the Monster, A Public Humanities Prison Arts Project by Elizabeth Effinger (ed.) (2024)

• Protocols: An Erasure by Daniela Naomi Molnar (2025)

• Oversight: Erasure Poetry by Carina Bissett and Lee Murray (forthcoming March 2026)

• Common Sense (1776), Addressed to Today's Citizen's of America: An Erasure by Crystal Simone Smith (forthcoming March 2026)

Anthologies

• I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women edited by Caroline Bergvall, Laynie Browne, Teresa Carmody, and Vanessa Place (2012)

• The &NOW Awards 2: The Best Innovative Writing edited by Davis Schneiderman (2013)

• Redacted: Writing in the Negative Space of the State edited by Lisa Min, Franck Billé, and Charlene Makley (2024)

Journals

• The Kenyon Review

• Blackout Poetry Journal

• Erasure by Percival Everett (2001)

• Falling Awake by Alice Oswald (2016)

• Notes on Conceptualisms by Vanessa Place and Robert Fitterman (2009) 

   

• Making the Cut: An Erasure Poetry Workbook by Dara Barrois/Dixon (formerly Dara Wier)

• Make Blackout Poetry: Turn These Pages into Poems by John Carroll (2018)

• Make Blackout Poetry, Activist Edition: Create a Citizen's Manifesto with Political Documents by Abrams Noterie and Jerrod Schwarz (2019)

• The Academy of American Poets on erasure poetry

• The Poetry Foundation on erasure poetry

• The New York Times on creating erasure poetry

• Old Scratch Press on creating something new out of something old or discarded

• Steal Like An Artist: Austin Kleon at TEDcKC