"What at first may seem like a playful way to generate amusing accidents of language, erasure is a branch of found poetry that has been used by writers to reveal sinister subtexts in everything from newsprint to novels. Some of its most inventive contemporary practitioners are Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ+ American writers who are appropriating official documents to highlight the violence and discrimination that underpins the language of power and create works that resist its domination. New examples keep appearing, at the same time as the state’s hostility towards these groups has intensified, and some of the most notable books of recent years have featured erasure in ways that are profound and original."