A century and a half ago, New York Times journalists praised the first night that their newsroom was illuminated by electric bulbs. I found this article (“Edison’s Electric Light: ‘The Times’ Building Illuminated By Electricity,” September 5, 1882) while researching the history of the New York subway system. The journalists notice the details of the bulb while reminding us not to look directly at it, and they implicitly ask when we’ll be ready to decide whether this is the best lighting system.

 

Erasure poems subtract from an existing text. By drawing attention to what might have been taken away, they lead us to ask what frailty of human memory or what deliberate suppression has led to the knowledge we have today.

 

The background image is my digitally altered photograph taken from a 25th-floor Manhattan apartment.