Wanted: Book Spine Poems

Yeah, April! You used to be known almost exclusively as the month that brought showers. Seeing as how rain is the universal symbol for “downer”, I can’t imagine you were very pleased with that.

But now you’re known for something else – April is National Poetry Month. And around this neck of the woods the poetry form of choice is the book spine cento. What’s a cento?

Check out the 2011 Book Spine Poem Gallery to find out.

Or take a look at the work of Nina Katchadourian.

Students, teachers, librarians, book lovers, people who just like stacking things – let’s kick off National Poetry Month in style. Create your own book spine poem, snap a picture, and email it to me (scopenotes (at) gmail (dot) com) or post it to your blog and let me know. On Monday, April 2nd, 2012 I’ll post a gallery with all of the entries I receive, and I’ll add to it for the entire month of April.

Here are my tips for creating a book spine cento.

1. Check out last year’s book spine poem gallery for inspiration (see link above).
2. Get to a place with plenty of books. A library works nicely. Or a large home collection.
3. Start looking at titles, and see what strikes you. Arrange and rearrange in your head. The best part of this type of poetry is the fact that you don’t know where you’ll end up.
4. Have a pencil and paper with you to write down titles that stand out – you can refer back to them later.
5. Don’t be afraid to use the library catalog to look up titles with specific words or phrases that fit.

Give it a try, send it my way, and see your work in these here pages on April 2nd.
I love April.

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