Saturday, September 29, 2012



Lené Gary from the blog Counting Petals was kind enough to send me 
the following link to a site displaying spine poetry, the process of creating 
a poem by making a stack of books and reading the spines. I actually 
found this  to be a fascinating progress. It was almost a physical manifestation
 of the process of editing a poem described in Ted Kooser's wonderful 
book The Poetry Home Repair Manual in which ( my interpretation) 
you might move the first line to the end or vice versus or remove
 lines entirely even it is the best single line in the poem or the line that was 
the original impetus for the poem if it prevents the overall
 poem from jelling. I have done this in my own work and felt 
it helped and I removed and rearranged books here for
 the same reasons. I also think this would be a great way 
to get your creative juices flowing before you own writing.
So here are my versions of spine poems. I suspect I will
 create more. Since I used my collection of SF, horror, fantasy and 
poetry  the poems may have a bit of a morbid cast
( insert Vincent Price like evil cackle here ) enjoy.





Thanks Lené


A Wine of Wizardry
Whispers in the Night
Stories That Could Be  True
Death is a Lonely Business
And Afterward, the Dark


Reluctant Voyagers
Pilgrims Through Time and Space
Other Dimensions
The Hounds of  Tindalos
Shambling Towards Hiroshima
Disclosures in Scarlet


The Wind from a Burning Woman
Her Smoke Rose up Forever
Beyond Remembering
Only Begotten Daughter

7 comments:

Kathie Brown said...

Guy, I have never heard of this. It is an interesting prospect! I don't know if I like the first or the last one the best. Looks and sounds like fun!

Guy said...

Hi Kathie

I did find it to be a fun if a bit obsessive activity while I looked for the perfect book. A time limit might help.

Regards
Guy

Lené Gary said...

Hi Guy,

This is GREAT! What a wonderful surprise to find when I popped over here tonight. I'm going to have to write a few this week with my spines and share in the fun. Your poems are wonderful!

Cheers to poetry (and seeing the poetry in the rest of life),

Lené

Guy said...

Hi Lené

I am glad you liked the poems as I said I found it a fun exercise and I hope to do some more this weekend.

Regards
Guy

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, baby, I just love " Bazzeleco".
That with Bilco at Red Canyon Lodge.
Throw in The Outrigger & Casa Asa De Vencedoras, you got yourself a library of Tsboo with Billy Gunn.
If you don 't follow that, just look up the poetry of Eadiitorl Dhliget .
Edward Meese is a believer in Rporket .

Hilke Breder said...

I love reading your blog, Guy. The "spine" poems are exquisite! But now for a challnge try it with a stack of math or engineering books.

Guy said...

Hi Hilke

I am glad you enjoy the blog and your right math and engineering books would be a challenge. I just so happen to have an engineering library at hand maybe I will see what I can do.

Guy