A new (and characteristically overdue) bookmash! Also known as a book spine poem. Here goes.
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Grand Central Station
By Grand Central Station
I sat down and wept:
Spill, simmer,
Falter, wither,
A Belfast woman a far cry
from Kensington.
The leaves on grey,
The introvert’s way,
The woman who talked
to herself:
If you leave me,
Can I come too?
The joke’s over –
The song is you.
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16 Comments | 
books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: A.L. Barker, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Cynthia Heimel, Desmond Hogan, Elizabeth Smart, found poetry, literature, love poetry, Mary Beckett, Megan Abbott, Muriel Spark, photography, poetry, Ralph Steadman, Sara Baume, Sophia Dembling, visual poetry, wordplay | 
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Posted by Stan Carey
Every so often I make a poem by stacking books on top of one another so their titles line up felicitously. I call them book spine poems, or bookmashes for short. Here’s a new one.
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The Accidental Grammar
Voices in stone
breaking the rock:
the accidental grammar,
the loom of language,
the awakening of intelligence,
the mind’s eye reborn –
Renegade presence,
gifts of unknown things.
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Some of these are recent additions to the bookshelf; a few are old favourites. There’s a strong bias towards non-fiction here, with Ali Smith’s the only novel. In 2013 I found a close ratio of fiction to non-fiction in my bookmashes, but I’ll have to review the figures, maybe when I’ve done 40 or 50 (we’re at 37 now).
17 Comments | books, language, photography, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Ali Smith, book spine poems, bookmash, books, Daniel Dennett, Douglas Hofstadter, Ernst Doblhofer, found poetry, Frank Palmer, Frederick Bodmer, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Jolene Babyak, language, language history, literature, Lyall Watson, Mark E. Smith, Patsy Rodenburg, photography, poetry, Susan Sontag, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
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Mice
White jazz in a café:
Nocturnes, still life –
The mouse and his child
Loitering with intent.
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2 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: A.S. Byatt, animals, book spine poems, bookmash, books, cafe, found poetry, James Ellroy, jazz, Kazuo Ishiguro, Mary Lavin, mice, Muriel Spark, music, photography, poetry, reading, Russell Hoban, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
Last weekend I read The Long Gaze Back, a wonderful anthology of short stories by Irish women writers, edited by Sinéad Gleeson. I felt the book’s title – borrowed from Maeve Brennan’s novella The Visitor – could work in a book spine poem. So here it is.
A Quiet Life
A quiet life
on Chesil Beach,
loving and giving
bliss, breath, broken
words, the broken shore,
The long gaze back
under Milk Wood.
Johnny, I hardly
knew you.
32 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay, writers | Tagged: Beryl Bainbridge, book spine poems, bookmash, books, Dylan Thomas, Edna O'Brien, found poetry, Helen Hodgman, Ian McEwan, Molly Keane, Peter Carey, Peter Temple, poetry, Sinéad Gleeson, Tim Winton, visual poetry, wordplay, words, writers | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
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Travelling shoes
Heartsick, left for dead
The Italian girl
Alone in Berlin.
All God’s children need
Travelling shoes:
Travels in dreamland,
Other people’s shoes.
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Thanks to the authors: Chelsea Cain, Nick Ward with Sinéad O’Brien, Iris Murdoch, Hans Fallada, Maya Angelou, Phil Patton, and Harriet Walter; and to Nina Katchadourian.
See the archive for older book spine poems, aka bookmashes, and let me know if you join in the game.
14 Comments | books | Tagged: book spine poems, bookmash, books, Chelsea Cain, found poetry, Hans Fallada, Harriet Walter, Iris Murdoch, literature, Maya Angelou, Nick Ward, Phil Patton, photography, poetry, Sinead O'Brien, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
New books mean a new book spine poem, aka bookmash. This one has a language theme.
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10 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Bill Walsh, book spine poems, bookmash, books, David Crystal, Deborah Tannen, found poetry, Geoffrey Hughes, Guy Deutscher, Helen Hodgman, language, linguistics, literature, Mark Abley, photography, poetry, Suzette Elgin, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
A new book spine poem, aka bookmash, this one a mixture of recent reads and newly acquired to-be-reads. (Click to enlarge the photo.)
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Trespass in a Strange Room
Trespass in a strange room –
Criminal shadows, a severed head,
John Brown’s body waiting for an angel,
Destination: morgue!
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21 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: A.L. Barker, book spine poems, bookmash, books, Damon Galgut, David Canter, found poetry, Helon Habila, Irish Murdoch, James Ellroy, photography, poetry, Rose Tremain, visual poetry, wordplay, writing | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
