Palimpsest

CRAFT TERM

Oct 26

Palimpsest is writing material (such as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased.

via Merriam Webster

Applied to poetry—a palimpsest is a layering of text in which the uppermost layer claims the most clarity while simultaneously obfuscating what was previously written or documented in this space.

Example

Douglas Kearney is a master of typographical experimentation. Here are some palimpsest examples from Doug (via Poetry Foundation):

Afrofuturism (Blanche says, “Meh”)
After Lauren Halsey and Mike Demps

Listen to Doug read this poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/play/76850

Prompt

Go through your poems and find an older piece you would like to respond to. It can be yours or by somebody else. Now write a non-linear response to this piece. Explore the page and use multiple writing implements if you can. Keep adding layers as you desire and include doodles, drawings, or collage elements.

Resource written by:

Featured

Kelsey Bryan-Zwick

is a disabled, queer, bilingual immigrant, and author based in Los Angeles, California. Their debut poetry collection, Here Go the Knives (Moon Tide Press 2022)—part memoir, part magical realism, part illustration—focuses on their decades surviving with debilitating scoliosis. Kelsey is The Poetry Lab’s Assistant Director, a Los Angeles Poet Society organizer, and Acting Chair of Produced Media for the Stonewall Democratic Club. Kelsey is a UC Santa Cruz alum (go banana slugs!) and their poetry has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, as well for the Best of the Net. On the gram @theexquisitepoet. Kelsey uses she/her and they/them pronouns.

@theexquisitepoet | Here Go the Knives | Read More by Kelsey ➡️