Shelf Expression
October 04, 2022
Shelf Expression
The heart of American poetry:
Wherever I’m at,
on Autumn Lake—
The difference is spreading,
A Black Arts poetry machine.
Old poet?
Own poet.
*****
This poem was inspired by a shelf of books at the New York Public Library's Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, in midtown Manhattan. The first six lines consist only of book titles, but I didn't like ending with "old poet," which sounded too much like an epitaph. So, I pushed it down and tossed in a line that seemed to fit.
The Poetry Friday roundup for October 7th is at Sarah Grace Tuttle's blog. By the way, Al Filreis and Anna Strong Safford's The Difference Is Spreading and Edward Hirsch's The Heart of American Poetry are excellent. Both anthologies feature poems followed by essays on each poem.
Love that title!! “Shelf Expression!”
Posted by: Donna Smith | October 07, 2022 at 02:21 PM
Susan, I love that you added the last line! It makes the poem hit so differently. Thank you for sharing!
Posted by: Sarah Grace Tuttle | October 07, 2022 at 03:40 PM
A fun exercise, and it came out well. Fancy a library having TWO copies of the same poetry book--my public library branch barely has ONE copy of anything!
Posted by: Heidi Mordhorst | October 08, 2022 at 08:23 AM
Donna, Sarah, and Heidi, thanks for reading! Today in a bookstore I saw that the actual title is Old Poets (plural) but I’m gonna leave it as is. I just love the puns you can make with “shelf.”
Posted by: Susan | October 08, 2022 at 01:13 PM
I love how you noticed the poetry in the shelf and created your poem, but also were flexible enough to change the ending. Well done!
Posted by: Molly Hogan | October 09, 2022 at 07:30 PM
Oh, wow! You win the prize for most observant! Now I'm going to be on the lookout for spine poetry that the Universe sends to me!
Posted by: Mary Lee | October 10, 2022 at 10:45 AM
Molly, thanks for reading! I just could not end on Old Poet. It made Autumn Lake sound like a cemetery!
Mary Lee, yes, it's so fun to look for titles that work together. I suppose I could rearrange for something even better, but I'd hate to screw up the Dewey Decimal system if I didn't put everything back correctly.
Posted by: Susan | October 10, 2022 at 11:01 AM
Very fun and creative cento! I may mosey over to my library to have some fun like this.
Posted by: PATRICIA J FRANZ | October 10, 2022 at 06:20 PM
Patricia, thanks for stopping by! Doing this was great fun, and it made me look at the shelves in a new way.
Posted by: Susan | October 11, 2022 at 10:59 AM
I love spine poetry and especially love that you worked with this line-up. You've inspired me to be on the lookout for a poem the next time I'm at the library. :)
Posted by: Karen Edmisten | October 12, 2022 at 08:35 PM
Karen, I recommend scanning the shelves for a poem! I was even thinking yesterday that this poem might work better backwards.
Posted by: Susan | October 13, 2022 at 08:55 AM
Such a cool book spine poem, Susan. I LOVE the way you owned the ending ;-)
Posted by: Laura Shovan | October 20, 2022 at 02:49 PM
Merci, Laura! Even though I had to work around Donald Hall's title, I'm now kind of curious about the book. I just might have to return and check it out from the library.
Posted by: Susan | October 23, 2022 at 12:42 PM