A Moonlight Excusion

The following is an erasure poem written by Ide Amari Thompson as a part of his 2023 AHHA internship with the Library's Connecting Communities Digital Initiative (CCDI). The poem is provided as an image and three different transcripts: the original text, the poem with redactions, and poem without redactions. The poem is based on an early writing by Mary Church Terrell circa 1876 called “A Moonlight Excursion”.

The full transcript of the original work

A Moonlight Excursion.
We had looked forward to this excursion
with a great deal of delight, for it is delight
ful certainly to take a trip on the ocean by
daylight, but to take a trip by moonlight
we could not conceive of. We went to our
landing and started at nine oclock P.M.
It was a grand moonlight evening, and
everything was as bright as day. Just
before the boat made her landing the
fireworks began and of course made the boat
like some large ball of pink fire. As we
went sailing along, everthing was on the
boat to make it pleasant. Just before
we passed Coney Island the bell was
rung, and as we looked over we saw
that it was all illuminated and fire works
were in progress, so it was with all the
watering places, and the beauty of the
scene must be left for others immaginations
for it can be better immagined than descrided.
We had a delightful trip,
for the music and dancing was
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certainly enough to enliven one. We arrived
in New York at one oclock A.M. We were
on the same elegant Steamer the Grand
Republic. All the boats are generally crowded
and the evening we returned from Seaside
we saw about fifty boats crowded some just
starting out and others coming in.

Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project.

Transcript of poem with original text redacted

redacted         
We redacted    looked forward redacted         
redacted    a redacted    deal of delight, for it is redacted  light
redacted   certainly to take a trip on the ocean by
day redacted     , but to take a trip by moonlight
we could not conceive of redacted          our
landing redacted             
redacted        a grand moonlight evening, redacted   
everything redacted     as bright as day. Just
before the redacted                
fireworks redacted          made redacted     
redacted     some redacted     ball of pink fire. As we
went sailing redacted    , everthing was redacted     
redacted          pleasant. Just before
redacted               the bell was
rung, redacted          we saw
redacted      all illuminated redacted       works
redacted          in progress, so it was redacted    the
water redacted       , and the beauty redacted          the
scene redacted          left for other redacted;  immaginations
redacted    can be better redacted          descrided.
redacted          delightful redacted   
redacted   the music and dancing redacted     
redacted         
redacted                  
in New York redacted                  
redacted                   the Grand
Republic. redacted                   crowded
and the evening redacted    turned redacted     Seaside
redacted                   just
starting out and redacted    coming in.

Transcript of poem without redactions

We looked forward
a deal of delight, for it is light
certainly to take a trip on the ocean by
day, but to take a trip by moonlight
we could not conceive of our
landing
a grand moonlight evening,
everything as bright as day. Just
before the
fireworks made
some ball of pink fire. As we
went sailing, everthing was
pleasant. Just before
the bell was
rung, we saw
all illuminated works
in progress, so it was the
water, and the beauty the
scene left for other immaginations
can be better descrided.
delightful
the music and dancing
in New York
the Grand
Republic. crowded
and the evening turned Seaside
just
starting out and coming in.

You can learn more and listen to a performance of this poem by Thompson on the Library's blog post about this project.