Thank you, Leigh Anne, for the inspiration and push to try a book spine poem today. I actually went to Leigh Anne's list of book title writing prompts she prepared for the Teach Write Academy.
I cut the titles apart and randomly selected 10 to create the poem.
Then, I started to rearrange them to create something that made sense, but I knew I would want two versions - the actual title with no words and another poems with a few words to connect the ideas.
I wonder if I selected too many titles to create a poem. I feel that it needs more to bring it all together to convey the meaning I find developing in the titles I have put together. Here is the poem I created with only the titles:
Falling Short
Waiting for Normal
Rain Rising
A Wish in the Dark
Possibility of Now.
Words with Wings
Freedom's Promise
Finding Someplace
Between the Lines
Paper Wishes.
I wanted more, so I added a bit more. This is the poem with some additional words to bring it all together. The titles are in Bold.
Falling Short and
Waiting for Normal,
I feel the Rain Rising.
I make A Wish in the Dark,
and feel the Possibility of Now.
Words with Wings bring
Freedom's Promise,
Finding Someplace
Between the Lines
for my Paper Wishes.
Clearly, you put a lot of thought and effort into this poem. I love doing spine poems with my grad students who often claim to have no books at home. So I send them to the library!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is beautiful!!! I love that when you added words, you still kept it to a minimum; the titles were still the focal point of the poem. My favorite line is "I make a wish in the dark and feel the possibility of now" I am adding this is to my list of slice ideas!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite lines are at the end-‘finding someplace/between the lines/for my paper wishes.’ Thanks for sharing your process, that was helpful and encouraging. (I’m still thinking of spaces between the lines and - what are MY paper wishes?!)
ReplyDelete“I wanted more, so I added a bit more.” Thanks for bringing us into your process as a writer! This is what writers do. We take what we need and leave what we don’t. I love your poem. -Leah Koch
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to cut out the titles so you can move them around! I love the line in the poem with connecting words, "finding someplace between the lines for my paper wishes." It made me realize how many of my paper wishes my journal holds in secret.
ReplyDeleteOh, I like how you made these spine poems come to life. "I wanted more..." sounds like it came from a learner-teacher. Beautiful process and beautiful poem.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea so much better because when I write these poems, I always want to add words. With this, I could have the best of both worlds!I lvoe those three lines!
ReplyDelete