“Poetry on the Shelf” is a celebration of the art of book spine poetry (stacking books to create poetry by combining titles in poetic ways). Poems can also be found just by noticing titles as they are, on the shelf...
POETRY ON THE SHELF
By Linda Eve Diamond
Not content to be confined, poetry cascades and climbs
like ivy on the bookshelves growing wild.
Look at separate titles—then change your gaze.
You never know what stories will unfold
as books come and go and what roads
they may take along the way…
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The art of racing in the rain
To the lighthouse
Seeking the heart of wisdom
The mastery of love…
For the time being
Waiting
Listening
Blessing the boats
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When you stack old books to donate,
do your books give you away?
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Who am I?
Open secret
I know why the caged bird sings
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Here’s an old joke with a twist of sublime,
unwittingly told by Silverstein, Carson
White Eagle, Catchcart and Klein…
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Where the sidewalk ends
Plato and a platypus walk into a bar…
Glass, Irony and God
Spiritual unfoldment
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Poetry doesn’t sit still on the shelf.
Alive and wild, it writes itself.
©2013 Linda Eve Diamond, The Beauty of Listening
Photos of the book spine poems from within the poem...
Here's another one, just for fun...
(This one was awarded a Forbes Library Book Spine Poetry award for a contest they held during National Poetry Month. ) :)
Book Spine Poetry was inspired by artist, Nina Katchadourian's Sorted Books Project in 1993.
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