A Guide for New Writers

Erasure poem for Geist Magazine, unpublished, 2011


From the excerpt Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

 

-PASS AWAY

-VISIT the dark and the strange

-VIEW hor­ror, soon friendly and com­mu­nica­tive

-POINT to every object, attract their atten­tion

-ASK a thou­sand ques­tions

-USE the mate­r­ial, and if so inclined, exchange it for commodities

-MAP the infinite light in a moment

-RECOGNIZE and fol­low­ the course to your own lake. 

-BEG hard for the cov­eted trea­sure

-it will give more by-and-by

-GRATIFY its wishes

-DAILY CONSULT in ref­er­ence to the names and sit­u­a­tions in the neighbourhood

-POSSESS a curi­ous sword

-GIVE to a strange gift

-ACCOUNT of its curios­ity

-REFER to war­like propen­si­ties

-CARVE images of gods

-CONCEIVE by the most dis­torted imag­i­na­tion

-REPRESENT in a sit­ting atti­tude, the eagle’s claws

-FACE a strange com­pound of beasts and birds

-PART with feath­ers

-LOWER long weapon 

-JOIN high friends found lying upon the book­shelf

-COMMUNICATE the impor­tant dis­cov­ery

-BELONG to a very fierce peo­ple who live over the Great Salt Lake

-not Christians

-PRAY own hands

-PASS the sword

-PERCEIVE cir­cum­stance as a great value

-CONTINUE to visit the house

-LOOK at god until vexed and annoyed by light

-MANIFEST the sight of the eagle

-REFUSE to grat­ify curios­ity, by pro­duc­ing again.