Welcome to Day 5 of the June Open Write. Thank you to Margaret, Susan, Anna, and Jessica for taking such good care of our words; we so appreciate your generosity in preparing and facilitating this month’s writing. If you have written with us before, welcome back. If you are joining us for the first time, you are in the kind, capable hands of today’s host, so just read prompt below and then, when you are ready, write in the comment section below. We do ask that if you write that, in the spirit of reciprocity, you respond to three or more writers. To learn more about the Open Write, click here.

Our Host

Jessica lives in Conway, Arkansas, also known as “The City of Roundabouts” with her husband, daughter, and son. Having been an educator for 15 years, she has taught in special education and alternative education. Currently, she works in a school district in Morrilton, Arkansas. She is a board member with Arkansas Hands & Voices and a Parent Mentor with Arkansas Community Connections. She is an avid reader, a lover of poetry, and a hater of boredom.

Inspiration

After an unexpected and expensive home repair, I found myself cleaning and reorganizing my bookcase (a type of therapy if you will). I discovered I have a wide range of interests and my taste has evolved over the years. As I stacked books to give away, keep, and exchange, I remembered an activity done at an elementary school library: Book Spine Poetry. As I made my stacks, haphazardly at first, I began to examine the titles more closely. Old books are going away, and new books are taking their places, but the love and joy of reading will always remain.

Process 

Has your palate for reading changed over the years? Do you still have your old favorites or “classics” lying around? It’s time to create! This activity can be done anywhere: home, work/school, library, book store, or a large chain one-stop-shop (Just be sure to return everything to its home). Examine the literature, grab from different spots, and stack them on top of one another. Read the tiles, rearranging them if necessary, to create a poem. Add or take away books as needed. Share a picture of your stack if you can and include it with your poem below. When planning this activity, I challenge you to create several spine poems, not limited to books, but also magazines, and ezines. Expand this activity in all directions, inside and outside, to community signs, billboards, and building names (restaurants, stores, churches) so your students can see the variety and value in writing. 

Jessica’s Poem

An Unconventional Celestial Celebration

Happy Birthday, Moon
Beyond the Mango Tree
Where Darkness Sleeps
blind ambitions
Dangerous Minds
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Locomotion
Riding Freedom
the naked truth
Satisfy My Soul
The Blind Side
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Hush

Your Turn

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe.

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Jennifer Guyor-Jowett

Jessica, what a perfect way to make use of the various distribution piles of books! I especially love ‘beyond the mango tree where darkness sleeps.’ Thank you for investing in us as poets today. I am on a train from Quebec to Montreal and my access to books is quite limited so I’m sharing some French titles (along with their English translations).

Bonjour Tristesse,
Voyage au bout de la nuit
A la recherche du temps perdu
L’ecume des jours
(poésies complètes)

Hello Sadness,
Journey to the End of Night
In Search of Lost Time
Froth on the Daydream
(Poetry Complete)

Katrina Morrison

The Black Girl Dies in this One
She is a Haunting
Into the Woods
Wild Tongues Can’t be Tamed

Katrina Morrison
Katrina Morrison

Spine Poetry

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Mo Daley

What a great last line! I love the tale you’ve created here with just a few titles. Well done.

Scott M

Katrina, the tweak of your first title — which I thought at first was just a mistype, lol — works much better with your second and third titles! I love seeing the craft decisions (and personal libraries) of all our poets today!

Jennifer Guyor-Jowett

Katrina, your poem is haunting! I love the use of “wild tongues.”

Wendy Everard

Jessica! I loved this prompt!
I can’t wait to have the kids do it this fall with my classroom library!
I just glanced at the bookshelf next to my bed that houses all of my read, half-read, and unread books and came up with three tales to tell. Thanks for the opportunity! I loved your book selections and the poem that your books gave birth to!

Poem #1

“The Writer”

A spicing of birds
slouching toward Nirvana.
What’s it like to be a bird,
in the Underground Railroad 
of a bleak house?
If they give you lined paper, 
will you write sideways, 
echoing into life,
waking up White,
word by word?

Poem #2

“Ode to Angela”

Feminasty:
Angela Davis.  She trills,
“I know why the caged bird sings
a Christmas Deliverance.”
Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England,
(now forgotten),
she crafts her own bleak house
after the witch hunt
with draughts of ink.

Poem #3

“The Affair”

The Circle:  forgotten.
Know my name, 
night shift boy.
A just mercy, 
a beautiful day in the neighborhood
ends in a double bind;
fences; 
and I, a maid,
I have a right to know
the rules of the dance.
We were eight years in power.
Now –  just forgotten 
humankind
As we pass each other on the street.

Wendy Everard

Pic attached. 🙂

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Susan

These are all so great. And fluid! At first, I thought they were just inspired by a few books rather than truly the spines making up the lines. Just beautiful!

Mo Daley

Ooh! Such crafty tales, Wendy! I particularly like how wide and varied your reading is. Your poems made me smile.

Anna Roseboro

Wendy, your Poem #2 flow your pen to my heart. For years I only read British historical fiction because I didn’t expect them to be a truth I should be experiencing. I was repeatedly amazed how little had changed for women of any race!

Scott M

Wendy, these are great! I’m so glad you didn’t stop at just one! And, I’ll be honest, I’ve also, often, found myself asking this same question: “What’s it like to be a bird, / in the Underground Railroad / of a bleak house?” (That question just took me by surprise, lol!)

Wendy Everard

Haha!

Jennifer Guyor-Jowett

Wendy, I think I need to be reading your stacks! The titles are beautiful and intriguing, as are your poems. Eavesdropping on Jane Austen’s England has caught my attention (let me know how that one is). Each of your poems is more astounding than the next (and would be even if I re-ordered my reading of them as I notice more with each read through). I’m especially drawn to the first two lines of poem one.

Jessica Wiley

I love this Wendy! I was tempted to create a more detailed poem based on my titles, but I decided against it. I do like this form as well and I hope I will be using this idea next school year. All of your poems are beautiful, but I admire “The Writer”. The bleak house, writing sideways, waking up white…such vivid phrases. Thank you for sharing.

Emily Cohn

What a delightful prompt and so fun to see everyone’s spines! I enjoyed how your poem went from celebration to hush! I ended up going through my Kindle, and a theme emerged- some actual creatures, but some just sound like it. Fun!!

Creatures

The Little Book of Aliens
Deacon King Kong

The Wild Robot

A Snake Falls to Earth
Demon Copperhead
Broken Horses
Remarkably Bright Creatures

Mo Daley

Emily, I enjoyed noticing themes on my bookshelves, too. The Deacon King Kong title is intriguing. I’ll have to look it up.

Jennifer Guyor-Jowett

Emily, how fun to have found a theme! There’s some irony that the last line, “remarkably bright creatures,” follows a falling snake, broken horses, and demon copperhead!

Jessica Wiley

I loved how you used your Kindle Emily. I also have Deacon King Kong on my shelf! Although intrigued, I do not want to meat these creatures, but their descriptions are so inviting. Thank you for sharing.

Seana Hurd Wright

Summer Mentally Chill List

Hamilton, the musical made a coffee table book?
this gift can make me an aficionado!
People magazine feeds me with gossip, trivia and
healthy celebrity nonsense
Caste and the movie Origin are pulling back the curtain
on colorism, world history, and the hierarchy of human divisions
Adult coloring books nourish my inner child and allow me to
be creative with abstract colored pencils
Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain reminds me to infuse culture,
levity, structure, and knowledge into my instruction and suggests norms and
responses that motivate and guide my students.

Seana’s photo.

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Emily Cohn

I love the mix- I felt like I was looking at your coffee table and could chose lightness or deep thinking along with you- sweet freedom of summer chill! Sounds like lucky students with a very thoughtful teacher!!

Mo Daley

I love how the titles are a kind of peek into each poet’s soul. And now I have to get that Hamilton book!

Jessica Wiley

Seana, I love how your mentally chill list is like a recipe for an amazing summer. You have a little bit of everything to sample. I love how People and the adult coloring books are wedged in between to balance everything out. I also love your choice of words: “feeds”, “pulling”, “nourish”, “reminds”…great verbs to pain the picture. Thank you for sharing.

gayle sands

What a great prompt! I have been collecting vintage “how to be a woman” books for years. This was my chance to pull them off the shelf. I believe they will go back on in this order.
Here are some of the plans in Eighty Pleasant Evenings, for your future party planning:
A Longfellow Guessing Bee, A Temperance Talking Party, A Proverb Social, An Evening With Ceres. Let me know if you need more ideas. There are eighty of them!

Spine Poem

There was a little girl, who had a little curl–
Wait–that’s not it.

There was a young girl, who was having a 
Beautiful Girlhood. Her very protective father decided she needed a 
Young Lady’s Counselor because she had so many 
Opinions. Why wouldn’t she? She was 
The Girl Today, The Woman Tomorrow
Once she became a Real Woman
she was eager to leave home.
With the help of Eighty Pleasant Evenings, she was betrothed.
Etiquette of the day precluded her from having
Sane Sex and Sane Sex Living until after marriage, 
she went for it. Anything to get out of that house!
Once married, they referred to 
Your Dream Home and How to Build it for Less than $3500
filled it with children (having read the sex book and doing it sanely) 
and soon needed the Homeopathic Family Guide.

And they all lived happily ever after.
G Sands
 6/19

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Leilya Pitre

Gayle, I love your witty comments as you present the books from your collection. By the end, I chuckled beginning with Your Dream Home till Homeopathic Family Guide.So clever! Thank you for sharing! I am interested in Young Lady’s Counselor.

Emily Cohn

This was a laugh, Gayle! I enjoyed the playful narrative you created from your titles- I love how she escapes her family and creates her own!!

Susan

I love this, Gayle, especially

filled it with children (having read the sex book and doing it sanely) 

so dang funny.

Mo Daley

I love that you have collected these gems! You are a poetic anthropologist, and I’m here for it. I just love it!

Scott M

LOL, Gayle! I smiled broadly throughout this, especially at the “having read the sex book and doing it sanely” line. I went to Amazon to look up this gem. It was published in 1937 by Dr. Long. One review: five stars (but no other description). Then I found a kindle version, and, apparently, “Customers who bought this item also bought” Franz Kafka’s Collected Works. Lol. The plot thickens! Thanks for writing and sharing this! And also, now, for changing my Amazon algorithm…I probably shouldn’t have searched for Dr. Long’s tome on my school-issued Chromebook. Yikes.

Jessica Wiley

What A great idea Gayle! I love how you compiled your list. Your false start of this fairy tale also emphasizes the significance of getting your point across. Your last few lines come together so nicely, a great “The End” to your fairy tale.

Maureen Y Ingram

Thank you, Jessica!! I have just returned from a wonderful visit to family, churning up lots of memories. We had a long and exhausting drive home. This spine poetry was exactly what I needed today! Sorry to have missed the first four days of this OpenWrite…I will go back and read these, challenge myself to write poems in response. Thank you, everyone!

Homegoing 

family furnishings
women talking
drinking coffee elsewhere

inciting joy
a good cry
happiness

how beautiful we were

time is a mother,
time and again

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Gayle Sands

The last two titles say it all!

Glenda Funk

Maureen,
We missed you! I’m glad you were traveling and not tending to a crisis. Perfect title for your poem following a visit w/ family, and you found titles to match the theme of the title. Perfect!

Leilya Pitre

Maureen, welcome back! I love Homegoing; it is so well written and tells many important stories. Ross Gay came to our Common Read a couple semesters ago with his collection of essays. I am interested in two last books from your poem. Great arrangement of books!

Emily Cohn

Ooh! What a list! Beautifully arranged, makes me think about how those moments we have coffee with friends can be really important time to hash it all out! Thanks for this!!

Mo Daley

Such a beautiful poem, Maureen. Homegoing is one of my favorite books of all time. I’m so happy to see it on your list.

Scott M

This flows together wonderfully, Maureen! (As a side note, you were missed! But I’m glad your absence was because a “wonderful” visit with family!)

Jessica Wiley

Thank you for sharing with us today Maureen. I’m glad you had a safe and great time with family. “Inciting joy/a good cry/happiness”. And to use this time to decompress and reminisce is golden. I also have the book “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere”. It was in a giveaway pile, but since seeing it in your poetry, I feel like I need to read it again and put it back on my shelf.

Scott M

Jessica, this was such fun!  Thank you for your mentor poem and this prompt today!  I had such fun pulling books from shelves, stacking them precariously around me as I sat in the middle of the floor, shifting piles, Jenga-like, for the better part of this morning.  I had to stop myself at only doing two poems.  And I’ve come to realize (at least) two things.  One, I need to buy more books with conjunctions in their titles, and, two, now I have this glorious mess to clean up, lol.  Thank you!

Scott M

the question
is
not
How to read a poem and fall in love with poetry
or
How language works
or
What if?
or
What’s the big idea?
or
Why fish don’t exist
no
the
question
is
Who cut the cheese?

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Maureen Y Ingram

Love this! I especially love the way you wove in additional words, creating a poem that flows – to a humorous end, of course.

Gayle Sands

YES! (I hated that Who Moved My Cheese book–your choice is MUCH better!) Love these titles!

Leilya Pitre

I see you had too much fun, Scott! Love the books you chose, especially the last one. I, too, had a couple going on at the same time on my desk. As I mentioned in one of the comments, I also like this prompt because I can add some titles to my reading list. Thank you for sharing both poems!

Wendy Everard

Damned practical, if you ask me. Who, indeed? And who will own up? NOBODY.

Jessica Wiley

Who cut the cheese? Why yes Scott, that is the most important question. I love this arrangement and honestly, you can add or take away as you please. I really enjoyed reading this. Have fun cleaning up your pile.

Scott M

the
rain
&
wounds
sharks in the rivers
in the water
for
us
you
and
me
but
the wreckage
will
hold

Spine Poetry2.jpg
Maureen Y Ingram

“but the wreckage will hold” – wow, I like this ending thought so much.

Gayle Sands

I really like that last line–The wreckage will hold. I have had years like that–and it did hold.

Wendy Everard

Ahhhh — this was lovely. Well-expressed.

Mo Daley

I love how much fun you had with the prompt today, Scott. Clever as always!

Jessica Wiley

I agree with Maureen-“the wreckage will hold” I hope so. Such an emotional tug here. Thank you Scott.

Mo Daley

Four Souls
By Mo Daley 6/19/24

The Known World
The Big Sea
Thunderstruck
Sailing Alone Around the Room
I Sailed with Magellan
Long Way Down
Challenger Deep
The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All
Secrets at Sea
Thirst
The Bridge Home

Mo Daley

Oops. Disregard the link above, please!

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Maureen Y Ingram

The water theme here is amazing – such a solid thread through these book titles. I absolutely adore the placement and title of “The Great Glorious Goddamn of it All”

Jessica Wiley

Such an epic poem Mo. I love how you arranged the titles to tell a story. The Known World and The Bridge Home are the perfect end pieces to this poetic sandwich. Thank you for sharing.

Glenda Funk

Jessica,
It’s been a while since I’ve written a spine poem. I love these! I see you included one of my favorite books in your poem: Their Eyes Were Watching God. I decided to limit my titles to books I’ve received as part of the NCTE Children’s Poetry Awards committee. Y’all, I’m not allowed to share reviews, but there is a reason I selected these titles. Monday 20 books arrived. I have piles all over my house. The book Unalone isn’t part of the children’s collection, but I wanted to include it because the cover is almost identical to Fugitive/Refuge. Both books were released this year.

A Planet is a Poem [book spine poem]

I heard 
something about the sky: 
We care 
we share this earth—
When the rains came down &
when great gusts blow
we have wings to soar! 
Let’s go! 
Build Bridges instead of walls. 
We are unalone. 
There’s no place like hope. 
Breathe—
Plant seeds of change—
Be outspoken! 

Glenda Funk
6-19-24

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Glenda,

How fun and maybe a little overwhelming this process must be for you. I love seeing the book spines collected here and the connective threads you use to weave the titles together in this beautiful way. And I imagine you are also noticing some things about the cover art, font, and overall design of these books as you see them side-by-side with such volume.

Incredible. And it seems you are the bridge in so many ways: “Build Bridges instead of walls.” The power of these books. The role of a reader. Love it.

Sarah

Stacey L. Joy

Glenda, the hope and promise in your poem gave my morning a sweet boost!

I am in love with the opening:

I heard 

something about the sky: 

I want to see what you create with Canva for this beauty! I’ll look for it later on your blog.

Leilya Pitre

Oh, how thoughtfully you’ve arranged this book pile, Glenda! I love this prompt especially for finding so many books I want to read. You poem leaves me with hope.Thank you!

Denise Krebs

Wow, you created a story with these titles. I’m excited to see what you all come up with for awards. Thank you for taking your role so seriously–so much reading and evaluating. What a task! “We are unalone. / There’s no place like hope.” are my favorite lines here.

Maureen Y Ingram

Beautiful, Glenda! Love the words you weave in. I especially love these two lines, “Build Bridges instead of walls./We are unalone.”

Gayle Sands

Glenda–a positive message here–There is no place like hope–love this!

Kim Johnson

Glenda, I know this is a lot of work, but work that is passion is so fulfilling. I’m thrilled you are part of this committee! Your poem is beautiful, and the titles are arranged to make sense and give a strong message. And you end on a call to action. This is your style through and through!

Stacey L. Joy

Hi Jessica,
I can’t stand that we are already at Day 5 of Open Write, but I rejoiced over your prompt! On this so-called “Freedom Day” of Juneteenth, I was reminded of the freedoms denied our ancestors but how much they achieved while risking their lives. I was also reminded of the freedoms we STILL DO NOT HAVE.

(Some historical context around the issue with Juneteenth for those who may not know: Mississippi was the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment in 1995 and they didn’t certify it until 2013! Delaware, Kentucky, and New Jersey also had not freed their enslaved people as of June 19, 1865. So it is a “freedom day” for some but not all were free.)

I chose just a few books that related to my emotions this morning and wrote a Golden Shovel poem with the titles.

When Do We Get Free

My ancestors wrote Poetry

when it was illegal to read and write. What Matters

is they shared their genius in Literacy

In spoken and written word. How is

it that today, we still fight for Liberation

to be our full, black beautiful selves? One

book banned after another. Teachers warned one Last

time, not to say the equity or diversity Word

When we will be able to have justice and joy, and undeniably Get

Free

  ©Stacey L. Joy, June 19, 2024

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Glenda Funk

Stacey,
I love your poem and the note on history. I have that little book about Juneteenth. It’s so important, so necessary. Your Canva is amazing. Wish I’d seen it before making mine. I love the Golden Shovel approach, too.

Thank you, Stacey, for using this space and your poetry for art, and love, and education. I am so grateful for your note and poem today that threads these titles together with your questions call for action “to be our full, black beautiful selves?” And I hear one answer to move closer to “free” is “Poetry.” Yes.

Sarah

Denise Krebs

Oh, Stacey, it seems like you have created a shadow poem here. (I remember your Shadow Poem prompt three years ago.) Your spine poem on its own is complete, but then you have added so much additional truth that comes barreling out in the golden shovel. Our history has too many shadows that we keep stuffing back into the corners. Book banning, warnings of what words of truth we aren’t allowed to say keep coming out, as we refuse to learn. And then on this Juneteenth Day you have to ask the question, “When will we be able to have justice and joy, and undeniably Get Free?” Undeniably is such a perfect word there. Brava, my friend! Wow!

Maureen Y Ingram

Impressive how you turned the book titles into last words, for a Golden Shovel – a very creative twist. These lines are piercing, “we still fight for Liberation/to be our full, black beautiful selves? One/book banned after another.”

Gayle Sands

Stacey–say that louder! What a frightening time we live in.

Kim Johnson

Stacey, the Golden Shovel is your sparkle, and I know it’s a favorite of yours. You write this form so beautifully every single time. The message is powerful every day and especially today.

Anna Roseboro

Thanks, Stacey for reminding up is the spine poem that though Juneteenth celebrate freedom, we have yet achieved the reality of that dream. But, we like, our ancestors are free to write poems about it. One only hopes the next generation will be free to read our poems!

Tammi Belko

Jessica,
This was so fun! I can see a variety of ways this could be utilized in the classroom to replace reading inventories. As I combed my shelves looking for some of my favorites, I discovered that many books I’ve lent out over the years have not been returned. 🙁 I also realized I belong to a family of book hoarders! I’m not letting go of the ones pictured here.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor
While
Waiting for Godot
There’s
A Tale of Two Cities
&
Six of Crows

There’s The Fault in Our Stars
When
Things Fall Apart
&
A Lesson Before Dying

Remember
The Things They Carried
&
The Personal Librarian

Can’t seem to attach the image.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12a_OmcMInVyCaHyFltiYck1EsokvogQkVM9N_UGNSVo/edit?usp=sharing

Tammi Belko

Trying again

Leilya Pitre

The link works, so don’t worry, Tammi! Thank you fro sharing your books in this poem. I like how you build connections using conjunctions. I’ve read almost every one of these, but need to read Waiting for Godot now since Scott and you mentioned it in the poems this week.

Susan

Tammi,
this is great! Using a few joining in words provides a unity and flow!

Glenda Funk

Tammi,
I giggled at the juxtaposition of “How to read literature like a professor while waiting for godot.” LOL! You chose some fantastic titles. The Things They Carried is probably one of my top five books. BTW: To attach an image you probably need to take a screenshot of the photo, crop it, then attach. That’s what I have to do every time.

Stacey L. Joy

Tammi! So enjoyable! I love the format too.

Remember

The Things They Carried

&

The Personal Librarian

I discovered that photos won’t load if the file size is more than 1MB. I usually reduce image quality and that fixes it.

Your link works. Thank you for sharing.

Denise Krebs

Tammi, I love the photo, and that you said, “I’m not letting go of the ones pictured here.” Now, I’m looking at my shelves wondering what story I could tell with the titles on my shelf. I like your use of the ampersand and the very few transition words to bring it all together so well.

Scott M

Tammi, I love these choices! O’Brien and Beckett are two of my favorites, and you’ve coupled them with the likes of Green, Gaines, Dickens, and Achebe! So good!

Leilya Pitre

Thank you, Jessica! This is such a great prompt for a mid-week. Your poem title and the first line make me smile and prepare for this unconventional celebration. I had fun playing with books and had a few stories coming together in different stacks. I chose this one:
 
Call Out a Wolf

A Girl of the Streets,
You’re Breaking My Heart
(Remind Me to Hate You Later),
if i stay,
Don’t Even Think about It:
Breaking the Rules–
The Hurting Kind.
All You Have to Do,
Moonwalking with Einstein,
Catching Fire,
SPEAK
Courage to Dream
Calling a Wolf a Wolf,

Spine Poetry _June 19.jpg
Glenda Funk

Leilya,
You chose some fantastic titles for your poem. I love the admonitions in each title, the call to action.

Denise Krebs

Leilya, so fun to think of you with stacks of books around you this morning, each one telling a story. I love the use of parentheses around the book title Remind Me to Hate you Later.

Gayle Sands

My favorite book–Remind Me to Hate You Later. A tale of overcoming and courage here!

Denise Krebs

Jessica, thank you! I loved doing this with my junior highers in the library at school. “An Unconventional Celestial Celebration” is a winsome title! I love the ending of your poem: Hush. Because I just finished Quiet this morning, I thought to write my spine poem from recently read books on my Goodreads list. There’s no photo because so many are Kindle, Libby and library books. (By the way, Illuminate is a book by Margaret Simon. Thanks to her, Margaret, Susan Anna, and Jessica today for hosting.

Quiet
Collected Poems
Illuminate
Louder than Hunger
Chaotic Thinking
Be a Maker
The Hurting Kind
The Carrying
The Fire Next Time
Big Magic

Leilya Pitre

Denise, I love your book choices. This call for quiet and attention is convincing because “Collected Poems
Illuminate
Louder than Hunger”

I also used a Hurting Kind in my poem today )) I think we both thought about a call for action in our poems.

Leilya Pitre

Now, when I reread your poem, I also think that you might have meant “quiet poems” that speaker louder. Interesting how shift in reading and stress may change the poem’s personal interpretation.

Denise Krebs

So true, Leilya, I have been reading poems today with different interpretations too. Such an interesting process.

Tammi Belko

Denise,
Those first to lines “Quiet/Collected Poems” are so perfect! I love the quiet poems that make me think. Your titles work so well together!

Glenda Funk

Denise,
Big Magic is a perfect culmination to these five days of poetry writing. I see two Ada Limon collections. Have you read her new book?

Denise Krebs

You Are Here, right? I am excited to read it, but haven’t yet.

Denise,

“The Fire Next Time” gave me all kinds of feels between “The Carrying” and “Big Magic.” I am swimming in this sequence a bit to think of what it means for me. Thank you.

Sarah

Denise Krebs

I meant, “Thanks to Margaret, Sarah, Susan, Anna, and Jessica this week for hosting us here! It’s been a blessing. Big Magic, indeed!

Kim Johnson

Denise, I think we have similar reading tastes! Big Magic is one we both used. I love the Lemon selections, the Margaret Simon selection, and Quiet. Your titles flow so seamlessly and seem to belong together. Lovely poem! Enjoyed seeing you last night the Jessica Jacobs Zoom.

Susan

Jessica,
I wasn’t too gung ho about doing this until I walked upstairs to my book space and saw how easy and fun it was going to be! I kept grabbing titles and rearranging. I even had a topple or two. 🙂

I took the picture and came downstairs. I do think I would re-order a few of them, but I think for the most part it does a decent job of tracing the journey of my husband and me.

Evolution of a Relationship

We All Want Impossible Things
Braving the Wilderness
Glimpses
Hello, Beautiful
Table for Two
Lessons in Chemistry
Breathless
Talking As Fast As I Can
How to Know a Person
Open
All I Ever Wanted
Plain Truth
The Gift of Imperfection
Husbands
Led by Faith
Build for Tomorrow
Inseparable
The Perfect Family
Life Is Messy
Family Lore
The Fury
Talking at Night
Surrender
The Five Love Languages
Think Again
I’m Homeless If This Is Not My Home

~Susan Ahlbrand
19 June 2024

Susan

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Susan

I had trouble uploading the image . . . the file was too big!

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Sarah J. Donovan, PhD (s/her)

Yay, there’s the stack!

Leilya Pitre

Susan, and I thought I used many books. You have so skillfully told a story of your journey. I also see a couple of titles I want to read from your poem. This last line is so profound. love it: “I’m Homeless if This Is Not My Home.” Thank you for sharing the poem and the books!

Tammi Belko

Susan,

Wow! Your titles really tell a story! What a perfect arrangement!

Sarah J. Donovan, PhD (s/her)

Susan,

Thank you for sharing your process. I think the process of creating a poem is almost, if not more, important than the product. Yes, I enjoyed thinking about your pulling and sequencing books and the living poem you were embodying in the process. Lovely.

The “Think Again” comes at just the right moment of the poem to turn toward closure.

Sarah

Denise Krebs

Susan, I love that you had so many books that spoke to you about family life and your relationship with your husband. Two lines that made me smile were “The Perfect Family / Life is Messy” juxtaposed like that make me want to read perfect in a different way along with messy. That last line says so much. Wow!

Anna J. Small ROSEBORO

No way to hide here is there! When folks look at the books on my shelf, they see what influences me. The range is wide, but those I chose today reflect books I’ve read and helped get written. You’ll notice the book titles are in Bold Italics.

Books that Strengthen My Spine
 
Daughters of the Dust
Tell me that I must
Get to know
The Firekeeper’s Daughter
So I can glow with knowledge

When they
Call Us What We Carry
Instead of the man we marry

We just have to make a
Clean Getaway

Yes, I’m a
Brown Girl Dreaming
But I
Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey

Heck, no matter what
They Say, I Say
Let’s keep on reading and our minds feeding
With what is needed today:
Love and joy and light
To remain in the fight
For justice, equality, and a better way,

Book Spines for Poetry.jpg
Susan

What a glimpse into you this poem–and these books–offers, Anna. Great choices with some added text that surely reveals a lot about your heart!

Tammi Belko

Anna,

“Books that Strengthen My Spine” — love the title and the way you integrated your thoughts in between. In reading all these poems, I am adding to my summer TBR list!

Leilya Pitre

Anna, I like how you decided to reflect on the books that “strengthen your spine”–great title! This reflection goes well with your yesterday’s prompt too. They Say, I Say reminded me of K. Alexander’s He Said, She Said. Thank you fro sharing!

Glenda Funk

Anna,
I love your title and the way you’ve incorporated titles into your own words. Fantastic!

Stacey L. Joy

Love this, Anna! I have They Say, I Say and I’m certain I’ve never read it.

These are powerful lines:

Love and joy and light

To remain in the fight

For justice, equality, and a better way,

I enjoyed your approach to our prompt today.

Anna Roseboro

Stacey, THEY SAY, I SAY is a little book we use to teach argumentative and persuasive writing and speaking. Students are expected to research and them repurpose opposing positions of controversial topics.
TSIS is a small, but weighty teaching tool you may be able to adapt some of the lessons for use with younger students, too.

Sharon Roy

Jessica,

Thanks for this fun prompt. I’m traveling so I brainstormed titles that have influenced me, intellectually and emotionally. This is meant to be read as one poem.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
View From a Grain of Sand

Tenth of December
As I Lay Dying
East of Eden

Beloved
Annie John

Woman Warrior
Rhoda

Home
These Precious Days

Bel Canto—
Freedom

Tammi Belko

Sharon,

Your last line “Freedom” is thematically perfect! You’ve included lots of titles I am unfamiliar with and eager to read.

Denise Krebs

Sharon, what fun to put together books that have meant something to you. I liked seeing the names “Annie John” and “Rhoda” in amongst the titles. My favorite stanza is the second one, as it tells a bit of a story. Have a great trip.

Jessica Wiley

What a great alternative. This is great Sharon. I also am unfamiliar with most of these books, but the titles and the placement speaks volumes “Beloved”, “Woman Warrior”, “Home”, and “Freedom”. You were well influenced. Thank you for sharing.

Margaret Simon

I am babysitting two of my grandchildren, so I perused the book shelf for children’s books that might make sense as a poem. I find this is difficult to do with much success. Tricia Stohr-Hunt of the Poetry Friday community did one a day during April. You can find her collection here: https://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/p/npm-2024-book-spine-poems.html

My small poem is attached. I had to take a break and read some books to my grandson. That in itself is a worthwhile endeavor.

If I was the sunshine
Moving words about a flower,
The wonderful things you would be.

I’ve posted a photo prompt on my blog. Take a moment to visit and muse about bubbles today: https://reflectionsontheteche.com/2024/06/19/this-photo-wants-to-be-a-poem-bubble-acrostic/

Book spine poem .jpg
Susan

Such beauty in the three lines of titles you chose.
And, stopping to read to your grandkids is such a gift! I (im)patiently await those days!

Tammi Belko

Margaret,

Your arrangement is beautiful. Especially love the last title: “The wonderful things you would be.” So uplifting!

Leilya Pitre

Love what you chose, Margaret. So sweet and beautiful!

Denise Krebs

OK, Margaret, you might find it difficult, but what a wealth you had to choose from today. This is so gorgeous. It is a beautiful wish of love and success.

Kim Johnson

Margaret, you make it look so simple the way your poem flows so gently and makes such sense. I love that you are sharing time with your grandchildren. Such a gift to stack books together and share the joy of verse.

Jessica Wiley

Thank you Margaret for an inspiring poem. So much love of nature mixed with the love of a mother…Earth.

Sarah

We don’t have time for this
Rise
High school girls &
Feminist avant-garde writing
Black girl power

Sarah

Here are the books!

20240619_080326.jpg
Margaret Simon

This short spine poem speaks volumes!

Kim Johnson

This sense of urgency to write, to be part of the power – – it’s all here, and the short form does it again.

Susan

What a wonderfully empowering set of lines, Sarah!

Leilya Pitre

Sarah, your first line gears us for action right away! What a choice of titles–power speaks itself.

Tammi Belko

Sarah,

I love the way these titles work together. The first line “We don’t have time for this” grabs me and works well as a call to action: “Rise”. Now, I want to read them all!

Denise Krebs

Oh, Sarah, the fire this time! I so love “We don’t have time for this” Yes, we don’t. It’s time for all of the rising! Beautiful poem of truth and justice.

Jessica Wiley

“We don’t have time for this!” No we don’t. I love this combination of titles. Calling girls early to make an impact on the world! Such a powerful statement Sarah. Thank you for sharing!

Kim Johnson

Jessica, this is fun! I think I could write these all day long. Thank you for hosting us today, and thanks to all our other hosts this week – Sarah, Margaret, Susan, and Anna. I wrote two separate poems with four titles each.

My Reading Life
Life’s Greatest Treasure
Big Magic
Some Much-Loved Poems

Bear in the Back Seat
An Unexpected Guest
Living with Haints
Dead Uncles

Fran Haley

Kim, I have a couple of these titles myself – but I think I need to get Living with Haints! Each poem is perfectly arranged, with its own color – one glittering with whimsy and awe, the other darker but still tinged with the Kim-humor I love so well. One again, I’ve enjoyed writing alongside you, friend. Happiest summer break to you 🙂

Jessica Wiley

Thank you Kim. I needed a little fun to disrupt adulting. I’m intrigued by your bear poem with the unexpected twist of “Dead Uncles”. I have not heard of any of these titles, so on the hunt I go to add to my “Want to Read” on Goodreads.

Kim,

It is interesting to comment on the poems because we are looking at the way you sequenced and threaded phrases together for new meaning. In the first poem, I see life repeated and then the magic is like this flash that shows how poems as life, life as poems — that we craft as we can leaving white space for what we can’t name. Hugs

Sarah

Margaret Simon

I agree that a reading life is a great treasure leading to big magic (love this book!) and poetry. This has been a wonderful variety of poem forms this week.

Glenda Funk

Kim,
You and Denise are on the same page w/ Big Magic. Bear in the Backseat sounds fun. It has me thinking about the crazy tourists in Yellowstone. Fun poems.

Denise Krebs

Kim, your two poems are great. I’m glad they became separate poems. The first one so rich and full. The second one with each line makes me smile more. I laughed at Dead Uncles.

Leilya Pitre

Kim, I could play with books all day too. Your reading life is just similar to Denise’s Big Magic, and, of course, you have “Some Much-Loved Poems” in your first poem. The second one is more playful and mysterious. 🙂

Fran Haley

Jessica, what a great title for these spines in this great stack of books! This is the kind of thing I could spend an inordinate amount of time arranging. I am, in fact, about to clean off some bookshelves myself. I will have to see what poems come of it…

Today I’m going with a different sort of spine poem, shared by poet Kwame Alexander: Using the title of one book and basically golden-shoveling it. My inspiration comes from one of the many books about writing that sits on my shelf (I will not be discarding it in my upcoming purge!): Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. I think the word “bones” especially grabbled me, as today’s invitation is about spines. Thank you for this-

Breakthrough

Writing the poem means coaxing the frail pink thing until
Down begins to form, at last.
The tiny naked wings start beating their rhythm even as
Bones are put in place.

Kim Johnson

Fran, Fran, Fran! Writing Down the Bones is one of my favorite books of all time, recommended to me by my doctoral chair as I wrote my dissertation (on writing). I couldn’t put it down, and I don’t blame you – – I wouldn’t discard it either. It’s gold. I love the way you wrote a Golden Shovel from a title of a book – – so a Spine poem grows arms to reach out and hug a reader. Perfect! It sounds like we are doing the same thing – – cleaning out. Three loads to Goodwill since this time last week, prompted largely by our work move from one office to another. Your poem takes wings…..the tiny pink things grow down, then they fly. I had an experience like your finches last year with my garage wrens. I think a feral cat got to them. Nature is so cruel, but now baby bird poems……oh, there is no predator in poems that are baby birds.

Jessica Wiley

I love this deviation Fran. Excellent play on words. Your title “Breakthrough” is synonymous with a writer’s toil and tempest during the writing process. I love the connection to a spine being formed. “Bones are put in place” just like our words and phrases on a page. Thank you for sharing this today!

Yes, Fran. I read that book a few years ago for a Summer Institute with NWP in Oklahoma and wondered why I never encountered it before, “shitty first drafts.” Love this vision of “tiny naked wings start” as writing.

Sarah

Margaret Simon

Ooh, the “frail pink thing”! I love your take on the prompt. A favorite book of mine, for sure. I want to revisit it this summer.

Denise Krebs

Oh, what an ars poetica poem, Fran. Gorgeous! I love thinking of the writing coming as a “frail pink thing” growing feathers and getting their bones “put in place.” Wow. What a great book title, and a great golden shovel.

Kevin

I always enjoy this activity, Jessica, as it mixes in the unexpected phrase or themes.

Time;
decoded

We want to
do more than
survive

The book
of hope (and)
belonging

Kevin

Screenshot of the books/magazine

IMG_4446.JPG
Kim Johnson

Kevin, I love that last one – – belonging. It could be a poem all its own. One of those one-word poems. But I like them all together. I was noticing that these are fun rearranging lines and seeing within the titles how things change with the order.

Margaret Simon

A profound message from your coffee table. We absolutely want more than survival. I love how this community offers belonging and hope.

Leilya Pitre

Good morning, Kevin! Your book choices for the spine poem are so timely. Love each one, but “We want to do more than survive” speaks to me this morning.

Fran Haley

Perfect, Kevin – in simplicity and truth. We do want to do more than survive – we want to belong, and to know the living matters.

Jessica Wiley

Kevin, you have taken this spine poetry to another level. Oh to do more than survive! I loved how you crept in Time magazine. “The book of hope (and) belonging. So important here as you capture how times plays out. It all comes together so well. Thank you for sharing.

Sarah J. Donovan, PhD (s/her)

Kevin,

These are perfect selections and phrasings for today’s Juneteenth, a holiday now in Oklahoma! Yes.

The first two lines with the semicolon are artful. I think of how that semicolon serves to connect, disconnect, and I think of the the period as ending and the comma needing more. We do want to do more, need to do more. And then the parentheses in the “(and)” have me looking at those curves as hands or people holding the and between “hope” and “belonging.”

Sarah