CAMDEN — Now here’s a very clever idea. Amy Hand, children’s librarian at Camden Public Library, posted a “spine poem” on Facebook this past week. According to an article from Amanda Nelson of Book Riot, the concept of book spine poetry originated in 1993, by Nina Katchadourian, who began collecting interesting titles and arranging them in clusters so the spines could be read like a sentence.

Maria Popova of Brain Pickings adapted the spine sentences into poetry and the idea quickly spread around.

Given that it is National Poetry Month and National Librarian Week, we asked local libraries to submit their own versions of spine poetry. It’s very simple: stack some book titles together to make a poem and snap a photo. We hope the following librarian spine poems inspire our readers at home to create one and send it to us. We’ll add to the gallery of the ones we collected from librarians, below.

Camden Public Library

Morning, Noon and Night
Stormy Weather
Rain
Snow
Signs of Spring
10 Turkeys In The Road
Snow Day!
Spring
Liberty!

Belfast Free Library

April Is the Cruelest Month (wishing for summer's return)

hummingbirds
Signs and Wonders
Close My Eyes
fall on your knees
broken for you
A friend of the family
Exile
Come again no more
Tex and Molly in the Afterlife

Vose Library, Union

This Is How To Dance “is a poem about the magical joys of dancing with another person, and the ways that dancing celebrates life and transforms your inner world. The books are drawn from many areas of Vose Library's collection.”

We first
Sparkle and spin
Alone together
A ring of endless light
Force & motion
Making things float and sink
After
Radiant days
Blue shoes and happiness
Touch and go
This is how
To dance.
This song will save your life.

Rockland Public Library

“I've been intrigued by the book spine poetry since I read about it a few years ago--what a fun way to create!”

Why I read
Everything Under the Sun
Forgot to Remember
Plot & structure
Writing on the Wall

Jackson Memorial Library

Close your eyes
Just a dream
Something magic
Sweet, sweet memory

Reader Submission: Susan Bates

Necessary places
We took to the woods
An Unexpected Forest
She’s not there
Rivers of memory
More than you know

Reader challenge: Send us a spine poem with one of your favorite Maine author’s books as part of the title!

Submissions can be sent to Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com