New Books Network Crystal Simone Smith, "Common Sense (1776), Addressed to Today's Citizen's of America: An Erasure" (Beacon, 2026)
Mar 25, 2026
Crystal Simone Smith, award-winning poet who remakes foundational texts through erasure, discusses her book Common Sense (1776): Addressed to Today's Citizens of America. She explains why she chose Paine's pamphlet and her redaction method. Listeners hear about form, performance, accessibility, tone, and how the work reframes who counts in America as the nation nears its 250th anniversary.
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Erasure Reveals Founding Omissions
- Erasure poetry redacts an existing public document to reveal omissions and new meanings.
- Crystal Simone Smith chose Thomas Paine's Common Sense because its omissions about who counts as citizen expose historical bias when visually subtracted.
Design Lets Readers See Both Voices
- Smith avoided full blackout because she wanted readers to access both Paine's original text and her redaction.
- Presenting the original in gray strikethrough and her illuminated text in black lets readers read either the historical pamphlet or the new performative speech.
Erasure As A New Public Speech
- Smith frames her erasure as a performative speech responding to Paine's original oratory.
- She emphasizes pacing, pauses, and visual silences to create a new public address that resonates differently than linear poetry.
