New bookmash! This one’s a bit conflagrationary.
[click to enlarge]
*
After the fire
Red gold
Beyond black,
Incendiary collapse
When you are engulfed in flames:
A bright red scream
From out of the city,
After the fire
A still small
Voice.
*
Thanks to the authors: Alan Furst, Hilary Mantel, Chris Cleave, Jared Diamond, David Sedaris, Marilee Strong, John Kelly, and Evie Wyld; and to Nina Katchadourian for the idea.
This poem is featured on the WordPress news blog Hot Off the Press for National Poetry Month. You can see older book spine poems here. Feel free to join in – you’ll never look at your bookshelves in quite the same way again.
Sentence first 
I enjoy a bit of book spine poetry now and again, though I’ve only composed two, so far. It’s a strange and satisfying exercise, looking at titles as pieces of a new, meaningful whole.
Sorry, non riuscire ad interagire con lei, causa la lingua, la traduzione non sempre è fedele, alle volte escono fuori frasi senza senso. Oggi sono riuscita a capire che si tratta di proporre dei libri di poesia ed altro, i titoli mi piacciono sono originali. Anch’io scrivo: raccontini, spaccati di vita, riflessioni, naturalmente nella mia lingua: l’italiano.
Reblogged this on You are exactly where you need to be..
Wishing you a wonderful rebirth and many happy tomorrows! Warmly..
Love this idea. Great poem. I may have to try this.
Danielle: Yes, that’s well put. I often end up dissatisfied with mine, but it’s still a nice way to play with found phrases.
Anna Maria: Even nonsense has its merits, in poetry in particular.
Claire: Thank you! I’m practising my smouldering now.
Brine: It’s a fun way to spend time staring at your bookshelves.
Excellent concept & execution.
Thank you! I’ll try not to wait so long till the next one.
creative
this is a bit brilliant
jadekibue, zerthspirit, thank you.
[…] Inspired by Stan Carey’s Book spine poem: After the Fire […]
[…] “Spine Poetry” by Stan Carey […]
I find spine poetry a fascinating way to compose a poem. Being a retired librarian, I guess the appeal to me is not surprising.
I love the method, Virginia. And I know people who have made them in shops, but doing so in a library would be a breach of etiquette, I think.
[…] In 2015 I featured Beyond Black in a book spine poem, ‘After the […]
[…] a single Google hit: digital gold. Red Gold, incidentally, featured in a book spine poem I made some years ago. Eventually I’ll take all those books off the […]
[…] coincidences); Smith in posts on compulsive pedantry and mutual unintelligibility; Furst in ‘After the Fire’ and a post on a significant hyphen; O’Brien in various places; […]