I log into my Instagram account, hoping to do some social media surfing to start my day off, when I see a new page that nearly every single one of my followers seems to be posting about. I scroll and scroll and scroll down my newsfeed, hoping to just ignore the pointless "shoutouts", but my curiosity gets the best of me. I see the page labeled "@blackoutpoetry.ig", and my mind begins searching through every corner of my mind. "Blackout poetry?" I thought to myself. "What's that? I don't remember being taught that in eighth grade literature."

Coming to the rescue, I quickly pull up Google, the reliable search engine that I hoped would hold all my answers. I quickly typed my question into the search bar, and I was quickly given back my answer.

I felt content with this. Sure, who really reads the newspaper now anyways? Let poets take stand to the tabloids and make them something beautiful instead. I switched back over to Instagram, wanting to see some of these "blackout poems". And then I realized one thing. People were not just writing in newspapers.

1. "Books... These people are writing in actual books."

"She was so much easier to be around. I didn't have to figure out what she was thinking. She let you know how she felt."

2." How could someone have the conscious to do such a thing?"

""No one leaves until everyone leaves," I whisper, and everyone left. It's hard to tell for sure, and it takes me a moment to realize it."

3. "How could someone call themselves a stable book owner and be okay with inflicting this kind of harm on their books?"

"She followed herself into her own game, pretending to be two people."

4. "Okay... This is clever, but, no. No one should be doing this to their books."

"Some people have weathered thousands of storms."

5. "I'm sure this author worked hard for these words to be seen, not covered in black sharpie."

"The world is watching you, so be creative."

6. "Why can't they just write this out on a sheet of paper?"

"I couldn't wait to be close to you."

7. "This is like me going to someone's face and smearing paint all over it, but leaving the nose bare because, hey, I like that nose."

"I told you we are enough. I know now the stars came out for us."

8. "This should be some form of a crime; this should be punishable by law."

"The bare skeleton of the moonlight could not touch her face."

9. "This could be the most beautiful story, but now, we'll never know, because it's covered in black sharpie."

"My story and thousands of others will cure their disease."

10. "This isn't poetic... okay, it's very poetic, but still, think of the books..."

"The desire to find the perfect person is one of our delusions."

11. "Wait, this actually flows together well. How did they know those words would be on this page?"

"The agony of waiting was impossible to take"

12. "This is actually quite the beautiful line, but the books... the poor books..."

"TV invented new generations without imaginations."

13. "How did they even come up with that?"

"Slow down. Do not fall into the trap of instant love."

14. "Did the words just pop out to them? Or did this person had to search this page, read and reread for hours?"

"Whatever. I mean, I'm not an idiot. I knew this could be the crazy adventure I was looking for."

15. "This is beautiful beyond words, I just, why'd they have to write in the books?"

"Within me burns a spirit of uniqueness and it is nature's greatest miracle."

16. "This is so unlike anything I've ever seen before. They're not just using letters in the alphabet to form the words in their heads, but instead, they're manipulating words already printing on a page to form a new thought or idea."

"I dream of words, spoken into infinite space, glittering on with heavy beauty and shadow and no shame."

17. "Come to think of it, it's kind of a representation of the beauty in destruction. You destroy this book and alter its intended meaning, but because of that, you get this poetic brilliance that never would've been seen before."

"There are snippets of hope. This can have great meaning."

18. "Who thought of this? This is genius."

"Whether we admit it or not, we do try to conceal what's stored in our minds."

19. "Hey... Where'd I put my sharpie?"

"Everybody reads a different story in the same book."

20. "Let's give this a shot."

"We're constantly destroying and rebuilding ourselves from lost to found; Only one thing remains intact-- your way of thinking. Live now, because love is at once a trap and a source of ecstasy. Try to venture beyond the soul. If you take a risk, you've already gone further than most other people."