I was sick last week with a bugger of a cold and gave myself a pass from blogging. I thought I was going to have to wuss out of this week’s post, too, since I had no news, no motivation, and no clue what to write. Unfortunately, this is getting to be a familiar feeling. You remember my New Years resolution to maintain a habit of creative writing? Yeah, not going so well. My Giraffe Story is giving me problems because I can’t decide who’s narrating/what perspective is most appropriate to write from. It’s not exactly writer’s block….more like a split personality disorder. I have–no joke–six drafts saved that are ALL from different perspectives.
We are not amused.
So I’ve abandoned the Giraffe Story for the time being, just until I can sort myself out. Today I played with a horse of a different color. I was really impressed and inspired by Judy Clement Wall’s post This One is a Poem on her blog Zebra Sounds. She wrote a really lovely poem composed almost entirely of book titles. Is that a great idea, or what?
Do you know where this is going? Yes, I totally stole her idea.
It wasn’t easy. In fact, it was time consuming and guilt-inducing. (While going through my bookshelves to collect titles, I realized how many books I own that I have yet to read…) I still haven’t put all the books that I used back on their shelves. (Ugh. Seems like a lot of work.) But it was fun! You should try it! I like the prettiness of Judy’s poem better–and don’t get me started on my photography skills–but clearly poetry is a window to the soul and mine is trying to get a message out…
(Read the poem in normal text after the photos)
Humor Me:
What should I do with my life?
This is a story of
A girl named disaster
playing with books
becoming a writer
the real pretend
She is
the woman warrior,
the bitch in the house,
the blind assassin
searching for Mercy Street.
Watch her
hopscotch
through
the art of choosing,
blink
away
one hundred demons
blame
the known world
till the cows come home
The funny thing is,
the heroine’s bookshelf
is
a map of the world
a gesture life
a contract with God
Finally,
the plot thickens
the awakening
the 3 am epiphany
when you are engulfed in flames
where the lightening strikes
seeing things
truth and beauty
wild magic
miracles
Oh My Words! 
I love this! Excellent poem. What a great idea for writing! I never thought of this before! I want to try one for myself one day. This sounds like a fun thing to do, to make a poem just out of book titles. How about doing one out of song titles, or out of the names of nail polish colors, or out of words that you cut out of magazines and ads? It sounds like it would be a really cool thing to do. Thanks for all of the creative ideas 🙂
you should do it! It was fun and definitely a good way to get the creative juices going. I was thinking song titles would be good–I did a similar post a few months ago to “tell” the story of how I got the birthday song I was looking for. Nail polish colors and magazine words are also great ideas….I’m already eyeing a pile of magazines on my coffee table…
WOW! I LOVE yours! You have mad book title poetry skills!
awww, thanks! That means a lot!
I may steal that myself. Yours is brilliant!
thanks! I hope you tried it, too!
Very cool. I can’t even imagine what i’d come up wiht just with books in my own home, but it would definitely be time consuming
If you’re looking for ways to creative-write, try finding a site that does writing prompts. Write on Edge (http://writeonedge.com ) is a good one – they do a weekly linkup of a fiction prompt and one of a memory-type prompt. Plus, it’s always a short word limit, and it gives you something in particular to aim for each week.
Thanks Alex, that’s so nice of you! Write on Edge is exactly what I need–something to prompt-y and motivational. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome!!! I love the photo poem too, you are so clever and artsy =D
I love your poem! I’ll have to make one of my own someday. It sounds like fun!