Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Poetry with a spine

Last weekend, I came across this very fascinating kind of poetry, thanks to a friend's update in Facebook. Book spine poetry. What a grand yet simple idea it is - pile up some books, pick up a few interesting titles, weave a little story and voila! An instant poet you become.
I'm sure many of you might be already familiar with this but I just had to share it here. The moment I read about it, it so tickled my imagination that in the middle of preparing dinner, abandoning everything - a hungry husband, a favourite sitcom, and a friend's phone call - I dawdled near the bookcases, restlessly skimming across the titles, creating stack upon stack of spine poetry in my head. While some overbrimmed with sentimentalism, others were oddly incoherent. This, perhaps, was the most balanced of them all.
And thus ended my obsessive urge of stacking books and searching meaning in their titles.



PS. A very happy Halloween to all of you. I miss the eeriness, the pumpkin painted world and the chance to be someone else for a day.


10 comments:

  1. Hello Suman:
    A few weeks ago, some bookshelves on our hall wall collapsed under the weight of books on them. Now they have been repaired and are back in place, we are left considering which books shall go back where. You have no idea how much fun you have now given to us with the possibility of playing the 'Book Spine Poetry' game whilst we restack the shelves. Brilliant!!!

    Incidentally, we could create an identical poem to yours as we have [and have read] the same novels. Great minds.....!!!!

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    1. Great minds, indeed!! :-)
      How I would love to see your stack of poems once you are done with the arranging of your books. It'd be a fun game to play with book-loving friends too, and I'm sure almost all of yours read, unlike mine. So good luck with all that poetry!

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  2. Seems so interesting :) I went through the Book Spine Poetry link, so enjoyed it. May be one day I will try it, God knows when... with my siblings or may be with my children and I ll definitely remember you.

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    1. What a lovely thought, Zahir. And yes, it is quite surprising, how one could build poetry of spine titles.

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  3. Well, I could have arranged the same poem!

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    1. Another 'you too' moment, perhaps?!
      Hope the rains haven't deluged my favorite geographical spot yet, although autumn must have wilted away by now I'm sure.

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  4. Dear Suman. I was not familiar with book spine poetry. I love the idea : to write poetry with objects, with books! I will try one day. It's a good way to embellish our everyday life. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. My dear Celine, I'm glad you enjoyed the link. I completely agree with you about the need for embellishment. True, small joys are important, especially in the fast-paced, concrete jungle life we are all trapped in.

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  5. thanks for sharing this ! its sooo inspiring ! =)
    I will raise hell in public librarys!

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    1. Haha! I'm sure the librarians will have a gala time!

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