This Portland Author Has Made 100 “Erasure Poems” Out of Donald Trump’s “the Art of the Deal”

"I'm a huge and magnificent gold asshat."

President Donald J. Trump (Gage Skidmore)
By WW Staff
Justin Hocking has spent more time reading Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal than any sane person reasonably should. Don’t worry, he’s not boning up for a run at a cabinet position, nor does he have dreams of one day bankrupting a casino. Instead, the author and professor has devoted quarantine to literally dissecting the president’s words. For 100 consecutive days, Hocking, who’s own bibliography includes The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld and PS: The Wolves, set himself the challenge of creating one “erasure poem” a day, cutting and splicing the text on each page of the book to form new, exaggerated turns of phrase. “It’s a way of redirecting some of his violent or exploitative use of language back at him,” he says. “And more than just making fun of the president, I’m generally seeking ways to subvert some of the logic and aesthetics of capitalism that produced a man like Trump in the first place.” What does that look like? Hocking provided us with some examples below.Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 11.42.04 PM Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 11.43.26 PM Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 11.42.50 PM Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 11.43.06 PM Screen Shot 2020-07-21 at 11.44.14 PM

Click below to see more Best of Portland 2020:

BOPWEBSITEFOOTER

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.