You wander around your library, or your basement, or your living room or den, all those places you have books. You look at titles, occasionally pull out a volume, recall something that brings a smile, like The Man Who Died Twice by Samuel Peeples, the subject of my first published book review way back in 1976 (and I got paid for it, too).
I wander around the upstairs bedroom at my house that holds eight, rather filled bookshelf units. Oh, and there is that tall bookshelf in my home office (another bedroom), and another shelf in a third bedroom, and that single shelf above my computer, and the four shelves, no, five shelves, in the basement. I’ll meander among the titles, touching one here, recalling another there, like the old friends they are.
What I never realized was that I have a massive collection of improv poetry staring me in the face.
Maria Popova at Brain Pickings has started a series of book spine poetry posts doing exactly that – assembling book titles that form poems, photographing them, and posting them. She calls it “Book Spine Poetry, ” and she credits Nina Katchadourian at Sorted Books for the idea. The one pictured above is entitled “New York” and is the third in Popova’s series.
Of course, it’s not exactly improv poetry. It’s more “almost improv poetry.” You have to do some work to find titles that lend themselves to the idea of a poem and fit together.
I tried one at home, and used these titles:
Farewell, I’m bound to leave you.
As I lay dying,
the heart aroused
the everlasting man,
the man who knew too much,
the man who died twice.
I am one of you forever.
The first line is a book by Fred Chappell. The second is Faulkner. The third is David Whyte. The fourth and fifth are G.K. Chesterton. The next one is my friend Samuel Peeples, noted above. And the last is another title by Fred Chappell.
I discovered that it’s easier – far easier – when you use business books. Business publishers like to use action verbs in titles; the literary set leans to nouns, phrases and rather dreamy sentences. (I’ll be posting one using business titles at my blog later this morning.)
But try to see what poetry is waiting for you, staring at you each day from your bookshelf. We’ll have a project coming in August on this. A month of Rain poetry, on the spines, if you can find water in words.
In the meantime, I’m going to try it using only titles by Charles Dickens (he liked nouns, unfortunately for this purpose) and Mark Twain.
We could be creating an entire cottage industry here. Or at least a few pages on Pinterest. But certainly a lot of fun.
Photo by Maria Popova. Used with permission. Maria Popova is “an interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large, who also writes for Wired UK and The Atlantic, and is an MIT Futures of Entertainment Fellow.” Post by Glynn Young, author of Dancing Priest.
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Buy a year of Every Day Poems, just $5.99— Read a poem a day, become a better poet. In July we’re exploring the theme The Cento.
- Poets and Poems: Megan Merchant and “Hortensia, in Winter” - October 31, 2024
- Poets and Poems: Sarah Carey and “The Grief Committee Minutes” - October 29, 2024
- Poets and Poems: Hedy Habra and “Or Did You Ever See the Other Side?” - October 22, 2024
Donna says
LOL! Oh this is fun!!! I’m definitely in! Gotta run now… I have books to grab from my shelves!
Donna says
what if
you are here
beyond fear
your sixth sense
out of the woods
naked, drunk, and writing
Glynn says
Naked, Drunk, and Writing is a poem all by itself.
Donna says
ha ha! you said a mouthful! AND it’s a wonderful book for writers! a great follow up for me to the Artist’s Way. I guess wine and clothing are optional, but the writing is a must! 🙂 by Adair Lara Ever seen it?
Maureen Doallas says
This is such a fun prompt, and I have just the books for it. Will plan to post a few in August. But here’s one based on some of the business books in my writing room:
A Whack on the Side of the Head —
Thought in Contagion, Fragments of Reality:
The Art of Memory
Waking Up
Jody Collins says
Sounds fun! I’m in. will be perusing the piles for August.
Gail Sheffer says
Spirit Healing
Nature’s Way
All He Ever Wanted
For the Common Good
Donna says
awesome! :O)
L. L. Barkat says
Glynn, this article is delightful. I love the delayed-improv thing. Yeah, not quite like a Twitter poetry party, right? (speaking of which, I need to plan one 🙂
This is on my counter right now, in this order. Pure improv:
“The Education of Millionaires”
Uncertainty
harvesting fog—
delicate machinery suspended.
Glynn says
Harvesting Fog is Luci Shaw’s poems. Delicate Machinery Suspended is Ann Oversterrt’s poems. Is Uncertainty the Jonathan Fields book?
L. L. Barkat says
‘Tis 🙂
Kimberlee Conway Ireton says
Maria Popova inspired me to write book spine poetry back in April. It was so much fun. Here are a few I found on my shelves:
“The Great Divorce”
Are women human?
A good man is hard to find.
***
Sacred rhythms
rest
where the mountain meets the moon
***
Inside out,
creation waits
till we have faces.
The power and the glory
sing a new song.
***
Harlots of the desert
breathe
silence,
the green earth.
***
So excited for the August Rain play. I’ll have to do a poem with Rumors of Water and Walking on Water and A Syllable of Water. (Why do my three favorite writing books all have water in the title?)
Thanks for the chance to share these, Glynn!
L. L. Barkat says
Kimberlee, these are pure poetry. You sure know how to find a good spine 🙂
Sandra Heska King says
This sounds like something even my currently overtaxed mind could handle.
Maureen Doallas says
Just wrote this one:
Barbies in communion,
God in the yard.
Contingency plans
rumors of water.
Delicate machinery suspended
the whipping club
inside out.
All but the last are T.S. Poetry titles.
Monica Sharman says
Seventeen books, three poems:
http://monicasharman.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/book-spine-poetry/
Cindee Snider Re says
This is great fun! Here’s the link to my three favorite attempts from this afternoon:
http://breathedeeply.org/2012/07/24/book-spine-poetry/
Enjoy!
Donna says
Wonderful!!! The poems, and the images… such fun.
davis says
august…hey, that’s coming right up!
ljdowns says
What a glorious idea! I haven’t had this much fun in a very long time (not sure what that says about me!)Who would’ve thought a poem could made from an author salad that mixes classics like C.S. Lewis, Dickens, Wharton, Chesterton and Poe with newbies like James Patterson, Higgins,Wally Lamb and James Frey? Here’s mine, including one of my favorite book titles ever as the poem title:
A Grief Observed
Bleak house born of silence
the age of innocence
a heart of darkness
spectacular sins
a plague of secrets
Now you see her
a descent into the maelstron
avowals and denials
she’s come undone
a million little pieces
Now you see her
up from the blue
choosing to see
a distant memory
the wolf at the door
Now you see her
bring up the bodies
salvage the Bones
strong in the broken places
Fly away home
Judie Ingram McMath says
Here is my first attempt:
Heart and Hands
Touching
Molecules of Emotion
I Love You Rituals
Ask and It Is Given
Female Power
Hard Labor
To Touch the Sky
And the link with picture:
http://www.unhinderedliving.com/bookspinepoems.html
Connie Mace says
Ohhh I like this!
From the spines:
the pursuit of GOD
walking in the dust of Rabbi JESUS
dust and diamond
the scent of water
to live again…