What Happened is Happening

“This is a low-stakes creative practice that anyone can do for themselves” - Sarah Duet 

Sarah Duet

March 7 – April 1, 2022
Created throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, these poems give outward expression to an inner experience of heightened uncertainty, longing for connection, reflection on the past, and hope for a future worth inhabiting. In this minimal, fragmented form—perfect for tired attention spans—the seeds of reimagining self and society are planted.  

Blackout poems are a form of erasure poetry. After marking through most of the words on a page of found text—from an old newspaper, magazine, or book—what remains creates new meaning in the form of a poem. The result is a visual art piece as much as a literary one. Some say the poems resemble redacted FBI files, while others see tiny constellations written in the night sky of the page. This method highlights the significance of what is not said as much as what is. What is missing becomes as important as what is present. 

This collection of poems is selected from the body of work that led to a book of the same name. WHAT HAPPENED IS HAPPENING: Poems is available at sarahduet.com.