Moody LBYR Spine Poems for National Poetry Month

By Emilie Polster

Besides the angst-ridden poems I wrote in my middle school diary and the book-themed limericks I make NOVLers endure, I am NOT a poet. No matter how hard I try, poetry will never be my strongest genre, but I have lots of fun trying (and isn’t that what writing is about at the end of the day?). So I couldn’t resist celebrating National Poetry Month!

So I thought we’d do something different today: have you heard of spine poetry? The concept is simple: using the spines of physical books, you make poems by stacking titles on top of each other! So in honor of Poetry Month, I took over the library and made the following poems.

Enjoy my moody LBYR spine poems. And take a stab at a spine poem yourself! Don’t make me do this by myself.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE

Love,

Lucy,

Lies my girlfriend told me.

I crawl through it;

the summer of us.

The best worst thing—

Messy

Spoiled

Revived.

What we lost:

Sweethearts,

the hearts we sold.

So I crawl through it:

What happens next.

YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS

This isn’t what it looks like.

Secrets and lies

defy the stars.

My best everything

smells like pirates.

The sweetest sound

erased,

dreamland burning.

Ghostgirl lovesick

for the end of the wild.

STORY OF A GIRL, ONCE WAS LOST

How she died, how I lived

Reborn.

Dreamland burning

idols,

the mockingbirds,

devils & thieves.

Now is the time for running,

A time for dancing,

manners & mutiny.

The astonishing color of after,

sugar,

grace, & fury.

Now we rule the night.