Threads – 12th May 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen

A waltz wave and forced erasure poem. I wrote the original poem (below) for this prompt at W3 Prompt #158:
• Form: Waltz Wave;
* A single, unrhymed stanza of 19 lines;
* Syllabic: 1–2–1–2–3–2–1–2–3–4–3–2–1–2–3–2–1–2–1;
Theme: ‘Strength and vulnerability’

While thinking about formatting, I felt like an erasure poem would be interesting, but how? I made it so with a little help from Deepseek.

steel
soft hands
bend
not breach

iron will
I won’t
break
apart

a diamond
under pressure
still shines through
my tears

flame
fragile
in flicker
enough
heat
left to
burn

19 thoughts on “Threads – 12th May 2025”

  1. Shaun, a forced erasure is definitely an interesting way of creating a waltz wave, and it worked! Taking strong and vulnerable words to transform into a new form … great take

    💞Suzanne

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    1. I wrote the poem for the prompt first and was interested in David’s comment about presentation on M.Synder’s poem and so starting thinking about how to format it to make it more interesting.

      An erasure poem seemed suitable as there are so few words in the poem. Again there was still the question of how to format the erasure poem. I could’ve just left the poem’s words randomly on a page and claimed I’d erased the rest but that felt too simple. So I asked Deepseek to write a one page story using the poem’s words in order and this is what it gave me (with a few minor alterations). I then erased all the text that I didn’t want but leaving it visible for anyone interested to see the story.

      As I mention above, if I had more time I could’ve tried writing the story myself. Could be a good idea for a prompt in the future…?

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  8. Shaun, it’s just amazing that you managed to create a waltz wave poem out of a preexisting text using the erasure method—what a feat! The result feels natural and intentional, which is no small thing.

    ~David

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