By Erica Wiggins
Ink Earl is a book of erasure poetry. Erasure poetry is when an author takes an existing text and carefully erases words and letters to create a new work. In Ink Earl, the author uses an ad copy for the Pink Pearl Eraser. The author then begins her work by erasing to find the promise of “100 essays” using only this one passage. The author, Susan Holbrook, is a Canadian poet who published her first poetry collection while she was a graduate student. She has written several poetry collections along with a poetry textbook and play.
This is my first foray into reading erasure poetry. It is a fun and interesting concept which requires quite a bit of creativity from the author. It took me a few tries to find the pattern and rhythm of the pages. At times, the words require some interpretation as the correct spelling of the words was not always used. You need to be patient and read between the lines. For me, there were a few pages where I was unable to decipher what the author was trying to get across. However, this did not take away from the book.
The author groups the “essays” into categories. As I worked through the poems, I began to wonder which the author came up with first—the “essays” or the categories. When the author is working from one original text, the amount of time and careful consideration the author put into this work becomes clear. You begin to see the author’s personality and playfulness coming through in the various topics.
Within each category, there were poems that made me stop and think and poems that made me laugh out loud. I felt like these were relevant to the world that we are living in now. Some of my favourite categories were the world, art, and health. From “RIP fresh air” to “Keep two metres apart” to “I lean in for her corners and dents,” I loved reading and sitting with each poem.
If you are a fan of poetry, regular or erasure, check out this collection. I believe that it has a little something for everyone in it. It gave me a glimpse into a new style, and I will be checking out the author’s other works and more erasure poetry.
Thank you, Coach House Books, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.