This is my blackout poem on The Veldt. I used CANVA to create my poem, and the poetic devices I used include a metaphor and repetition.

For this assignment, I chose the theme of alienation caused by technology. My blackout poem is about a child suffering a disconnection from its mother, who’s always on a device. The lines ‘our interactions numb’ and the repeating ‘where are you? You never answer’ are referring to the fact that there is such a large disconnect between the mother and child that it’s like there is no parent. Their interactions are devoid of feeling– or ‘numb’– because the mother spends more time on a screen than with her child. The child cries in sadness about its missing mother who is nowhere to be found emotionally—but is physically there. ‘A family no longer’ shows how this disconnection severed their family. The first few lines of my poem ‘begins to not matter’ are referencing the fact the child is slowly losing its empathy since it hasn’t been able to connect with its mom. The imagery of my blackout poem also reflects my theme through two contrasting images: a mother and child bonding, and someone scrolling on a phone. The first image is what the child needs—to be loved and to have an emotional bond with its mother. The second image is what’s happening—the child isn’t even in the picture, and the phone is in the mother’s hands. This shows isolation and fixation on devices. My poem and theme relate to ‘The Veldt’ because although the story is set in a different world, disconnection, loneliness, and despair because of technology are still common things.