SPINE POETRY
WHAT IS SPINE POETRY?
A book spine cento is a found poem composed from book titles.
Cento: a poetical work composed solely of verses or passages taken
from other authors.
You create the poem by stacking the books into lines of poetry
Poems can be topical or tell a story.
CATS
BROKEN HEART
THE WORRY WEEK
LEMMINGS
SPINE POEM HAIKU
THE VAMPIRE STALKER
WRITING
ISSA’S POEM
LAUREN’S POEM
JEWL’S POEM
TIPS FOR CREATING A SPINE POEM
 Check out examples of spine poems.
 Get to a place with plenty of books. A library works nicely.
 Start looking at titles, and see what strikes you. Arrange and rearrange in your
head. The best part of this type of poetry is the fact that you don’t know where
you’ll end up.
 Have a pencil and paper with you to write down titles that stand out – you can
refer back to them later.
 Don’t be afraid to use the library catalog to look up titles with specific words or
phrases that fit.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
 Create 5-8 lines of spine poetry. This can be several poems or one
longer poem.
 You must use the physical book to create your poem.
 Choose a title that ties together your ideas.
 Once your poem is complete, we must take a photo.
 All books must be reshelved.