It’s almost a year since my last book spine poem. Here’s a new one.
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Return from the Stars
Return from the Stars,
A portable cosmos –
Island home buried in
The sky, the island of ghosts,
The uninhabitable Earth,
Kindred love, again,
Touching from a distance
Homesick,
The stars my destination.
12 Comments | 
books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Alexander Jones, Alfred Bester, Amanda Padoan, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Catrina Davies, David Wallace-Wells, Deborah Curtis, Doris Lessing, Eilís Dillon, found poetry, literature, Peter Zuckerman, poetry, Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Stanislaw Lem, visual poetry, wordplay | 
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Posted by Stan Carey
A new book spine poem with a medical theme, to see the year out:
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Hidden Symptoms
Hidden symptoms
Under the skin:
A disaffection,
A ghost in the throat –
Patient or pretender
Waiting for the healer.
Can you tolerate
This parasite?
5 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Ashleigh Young, Bong Joon Ho, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Charles V. Ford, Deirdre Madden, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Eamonn Sweeney, found poetry, James Kelman, Marc D. Feldman, Michel Faber, photography, poetry, Toni Reinhold, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
For the day that’s in it, a new book spine poem. Bit gloomy, this one.
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Touching the Precipice
Zero, zero, zero wild flowers,
The insect societies
Collapse on your doorstep –
Mind and nature
Touching the precipice.
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4 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Ashley Montagu, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Edward O. Wilson, found poetry, Gregory Bateson, Heather Greer, Jared Diamond, literature, Marjorie Blamey, photography, poetry, Richard Fitter, Roberto Saviano, Toby Ord, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
It’s been a while since I made a book spine poem (aka bookmash). This one is overdue, but thanks to Edna O’Brien it’s also a month early:
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Listening to the Wind
Connemara –
listening to the wind,
the songs of trees, wild
December’s nocturnes
on your doorstep,
Going home one by one
in the darkness.
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10 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: book spine poem, bookmash, books, David George Haskell, Deirdre Madden, Edna O'Brien, found poetry, Heather Greer, Kazuo Ishiguro, literature, photography, poetry, Thich Nhat Hanh, Tim Robinson, visual poetry | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
If you’re lucky enough to have books and time at hand, here’s something fun you can do in lockdown: book spine poetry.
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All the Pieces Matter
I choose to live
a life in parts –
insects’ flight
from dream to dream,
through the woods
beyond the sea.
I only say this
because I love you:
All the pieces
matter.
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19 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Alannah Robins, Bob Gibbons, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Bryan Cranston, Deborah Tannen, Emily Carroll, found poetry, Jonathan Abrams, literature, Oona Frawley, Paul Lynch, photography, poetry, Sabine Dardenne, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
Here’s a new book spine poem (aka bookmash). For the uninitiated: This is a game where you make a visual poem from the spines of books on your shelf.
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Secret Place
Wild flowers, the wild places,
The birds of the innocent wood –
The secret place on the black hill,
Half a life still life,
The living mountain
Changing my mind.
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2 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: A.S. Byatt, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Bruce Chatwin, Deirdre Madden, found poetry, literature, Nan Shepherd, nature, nature poetry, photography, poetry, Richard Fitter, Robert Macfarlane, Tana French, V.S. Naipaul, visual poetry, wordplay, Zadie Smith | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
I almost forgot how much fun it is to make book spine poems. My last one was about a year ago (and led to an interview at the OED), so it’s about time I did another. This one tells a miniature story.
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When the Lights Go Down
Stranger on a train, heading inland,
Civilwarland in bad decline.
Autumn-dark voyage,
The light of evening,
The signal and the noise.
One shot without conscience
when the lights go down:
Death in a white tie, a brilliant void.
Reader, I murdered him.
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4 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Alan Furst, Ali Smith, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Edna O'Brien, found poetry, Jack Fennell, Jen Green, Jenny Diski, Lee Child, literature, Nate Silver, Ngaio Marsh, Nicola Barker, Pauline Kael, poetry, Robert Hare, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
Sentence first 