June 16, 2025
A new book spine poem, on a linguistic (and mildly sweary) theme, with some notes on its contents below the photograph.
*
Swearing Is Good for You
The F-word – spell it out:
Swearing is good for you.
Um . . . holy shit. Says who?
The man who lost his language swearing
*gestures* because internet
(What the F);
The woman who talked to herself
in praise of profanity
(Just my type).
Shady characters,
Role models.
*
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8 Comments | 
books, humour, language, photography, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: A.L. Barker, Anne Curzan, Benjamin Bergen, book spine poem, book spine poetry, bookmash, books, David Crystal, Desmond Morris, Emma Byrne, found poetry, Geoffrey Hughes, Gretchen McCulloch, humour, Jesse Sheidlower, John Waters, Keith Houston, language, Melissa Mohr, Michael Adams, Michael Erard, photography, poetry, profanity, Sheila Hale, Simon Garfield, swearing, visual poetry, wordplay | 
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Posted by Stan Carey
September 30, 2024
My last book spine poem was made last winter, on a seasonal theme.* With autumn slipping in and the evenings becoming short here in Ireland, a new book spine poem (aka bookmash) suggested itself.
*
Sleep the Big Sleep
When the lights go down
One by one in the darkness,
Teach yourself to
Sleep the big sleep,
The great escape,
The pursuit of oblivion –
Dreams, nightwood,
White noise beyond black –
The language of the night,
The gone-away world.
*
*
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7 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: 000000, book spine poem, book spine poetry, bookmash, books, Carl Jung, Deirdre Madden, Djuna Barnes, Don DeLillo, ffffff, found poetry, Hilary Mantel, Kate Mikhail, literature, Nick Harkaway, Paul Brickhill, Pauline Kael, poetry, Raymond Chandler, Richard Davenport-Hines, Ursula K. Le Guin, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
December 8, 2023
A new book spine poem, for the season that’s in it.
*
Wintering
When things fall apart,
Leave the world behind:
Lurking underworld,
Wintering underland,
The beginning of spring,
The will to change
Almost there.
*
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9 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: bell hooks, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Don DeLillo, found poetry, Joanne McNeil, Katherine May, literature, Nuala Ó Faoláin, Pema Chödrön, Penelope Fitzgerald, poetry, Robert Macfarlane, Rumaan Alam, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
April 6, 2023
A new book spine poem (aka bookmash).
*
Memory
So I am glad our story begins:
Speak, memory, the forgotten language,
Clear the mist in the mirror,
The unreality of memory going dark,
The shadow of the sun across a
Billion years, far from the light
Of heaven.
*
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6 Comments | books, literature, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: A L Kennedy, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Elisa Gabbert, Erich Fromm, found poetry, Julia Ebner, literature, Nicola Barker, poetry, Robert Silverberg, Ryszard Kapuściński, Susan Hill, Tade Thompson, Tobias Wolff, visual poetry, Vladimir Nabokov, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
November 21, 2022
It’s almost a year since my last book spine poem. Here’s a new one.
*
Return from the Stars
Return from the Stars,
A portable cosmos –
Island home buried in
The sky, the island of ghosts,
The uninhabitable Earth,
Kindred love, again,
Touching from a distance
Homesick,
The stars my destination.
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12 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Alexander Jones, Alfred Bester, Amanda Padoan, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Catrina Davies, David Wallace-Wells, Deborah Curtis, Doris Lessing, Eilís Dillon, found poetry, literature, Peter Zuckerman, poetry, Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Stanislaw Lem, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
December 19, 2021
A new book spine poem with a medical theme, to see the year out:
*
Hidden Symptoms
Hidden symptoms
Under the skin:
A disaffection,
A ghost in the throat –
Patient or pretender
Waiting for the healer.
Can you tolerate
This parasite?
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5 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Ashleigh Young, Bong Joon Ho, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Charles V. Ford, Deirdre Madden, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Eamonn Sweeney, found poetry, James Kelman, Marc D. Feldman, Michel Faber, photography, poetry, Toni Reinhold, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
August 9, 2021
For the day that’s in it, a new book spine poem. Bit gloomy, this one.
*
Touching the Precipice
Zero, zero, zero wild flowers,
The insect societies
Collapse on your doorstep –
Mind and nature
Touching the precipice.
*
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4 Comments | books, poetry, wordplay | Tagged: Ashley Montagu, book spine poem, bookmash, books, Edward O. Wilson, found poetry, Gregory Bateson, Heather Greer, Jared Diamond, literature, Marjorie Blamey, photography, poetry, Richard Fitter, Roberto Saviano, Toby Ord, visual poetry, wordplay | Permalink
Posted by Stan Carey
Sentence first