Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Attempts Spine Poetry, sort of wins.....

Greetings Garden Dwellers.....


In late October, Hannah threw down the gauntlet and challenged me to write a spine poem.  The concept is brilliantly simple: use the titles of the books on your bookshelf to build a poem.  This allows me to repurpose my favorite titles into a piece of my own, and it gives you a glimpse into my personal library.  Easy?  Peasy?  Lemon Squeezy?  Hannah advised she'd let me cheat and add a word or two of my own; however, I decided to see this one through without it.

I couldn't settle on one final product, so I've brought you four spine poems today.  So have a look a around!  I tried very hard to keep only my most favorite titles while building these poems, do you recognize any of them as favorites of your own?   Tell me all about it in the comments!






                                    Marabou stork nightmares,
                                    the anxious object
                                    rotten stiff
                                    a clockwork orange engine empire.
                                    The birthday of the world
                                    my mother: demonology.

                                     Do androids dream of electric sheep?
                                     The elephant vanishes.
                                     Art and fear stand still
                                     like the hummingbird.




                               Dance dance revolution
                               never let me go.
                               A canticle for Liebowitz,
                               fear and loathing 
                               in Las Vegas in caddis wood. 




                                         Pussy, King of the Pirates.
                                        Alias Grace.





                                  All of tomorrow's parties
                                  trash St. Lucy's home for girls raised by wolves. 

17 comments:

brudberg said...

Oh I love spine poetry .. this is simply too good... You seem to have a wonderful bookshelf to dig from. When I dis that I lacked English booktitles .. but after a lot of struggle I managed to do some short ones, and yes I think the androids do dream of Electric sheep..

Kerry O'Connor said...

This is just amazing, Izy. You have several books on my "To Read Before I Die" list, like Androids, some I've read, like Alias Grace and many I need to search out. Thanks for this innovative glimpse into your literary world... and for a few portraits of kitty.

Magaly Guerrero said...

Wonderful!

I'm on my way to the hospital. And for some reason, I just know that I will spend all day thinking about "the anxious object/rotten stiff".

Great arrangement!

Anonymous said...

"A Canticle for Liebowitz" is one I love - read it twice. I am a sci-fi junkie. Just finished Ringworld by Larry Nivens (trying to catchup on some of the older ones) wonderful.
Your spine poems are very nice. I need tory that sometime.

Gail said...

I believe you aced it.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

Ha! This could not be easier. I have a thousand titles to choose from! Fun prompt!

Maude Lynn said...

Cool, Izy! I love your books.

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I see this is not a prompt, but I did one anyway, such fun! Izy, I love your books, the photos, your wonderful cat and, most especially, your closing lines. THAT is a book that would be fun to read. Someone should write it!!!!

Gillena Cox said...

i tried it
http://myblog-lunchbreak.blogspot.com/2014/11/1539.html

much love...

Hannah said...

Izzy!! You rocked this challenge on every level! Thank you so much for taking this on and for doing it in such a fun and creative way! I'm with Kerry and everyone else...you have an excellent library and I love the way you made this more personal by bringing in your awesome home and kitty! xoxo Thank you!!

Anonymous said...

"The birthday of the world
my mother: demonology."

Fantastic pairing.

grapeling said...

cool, Izy

Isadora Gruye said...

Thanks for taking the time to read everyone!!! And a special thanks to Hannah for reaching out and pushing me into a new creative space.

Susie Clevenger said...

I have never heard of spine poetry. Great to learn something new and see such a great example of it!

Marian said...

i would have guessed that was your book collection, Izy :)

Margaret said...

These are always fun. Art and Fear sounds intriguing.

Locomente said...

Spiral poetry is really tough and you have done a great job!