Book Spine Poetry

Today is the last official day to celebrate April Poetry Month!  

So in honor of spring, and found poetry, and books, and procrastination, and cleverness, I bring you...

Book Spine Poetry

"My name is not easy

I'm not who you think I am

Run is not my Indian name

Don't call my Ishmael

I am not Joey Pigza

I am the ice worm

I am David

My name is Mina

Poetry speaks who I am"

From Maggie B. 

I recently discovered this thing. And yes, it is a Thing. It seems that everyone already knew about this; it's been all over the internet, and I'm only just catching on. But fortunately I discovered it in time to stretch my creative muscles and share this last hurrah to Poety Month with you! 

"Everything you need to survive the apocalypse
Blood and chocolate
Love and other perishable items
Riding out the storm
The long wait for tomorrow"
 By Elise Doney 

This afternoon at the Lynnwood Library, I scanned the stacks, searching for those catchy clever titles. I didn't know what I was looking for, so I just gathered as many books as I could carry and sat down in the Teen Center to assemble my spine label poetry. 

"Take me there

I'll be there

All the way

Wish you were here"

By Elise Doney

I fumbled the books, and muttered to myself, and was not at all a natural book spine poet. But the people in the Teen Zone totally helped me out. Together, we created this beauty:  

"Confessions of a serial killer

Tell me a secret

Little black lies

Will work for prom dress"

By Elise Doney and Lynnwood teens

What do you think? Maybe next year for Poetry Month, we can have a spine label poetry contest!

 Would you enter?

VOYA's Teen Poetry Contest

A poetry contest for teens age 12-18, but the catch is that entries MUST be sponsored by a teacher or librarian. Teens, you can't just enter yourself. However, if you come up to one of us, I'm sure we'd be happy to send in the poem for you.

Submission Guidelines:

• Contest submissions may be poems of up to thirty lines on any topic.


• They must be typed in a Word document.


• Include the following information on the same page of each poem entered: poet’s name, age, town, and state; sponsor’s name, title, organization/school/library, address, phone, and e-mail.


• Name the document file with the poet’s last name. Ex: Smith.doc


• Attach the document to an e-mail with “VOYA Teen Poetry Contest” and the poet’s last name in the subject line.


• Only one poem per teen, please.


• Contest Deadline: December 31, 2011.

Each winner will receive a $20 cash prize and a copy of the April 2012 issue of VOYA in which their poem will be printed.

From VOYA, where you'll find more info.

It's National Poetry Month

Happy National Poetry Month everyone!

Lots of people think poetry is dead, but I believe it to be live and well. While poetry isn't making headlines or getting a reality TV show made, look around the internet and you will see lots of people are still making it, including teens. Teen Ink has an awesome poetry section that features only poems written by teens. Plus there are tons of videos of teens doing poetry slams on You Tube.

Ashley from Arlington recommended we check out this great performance, with a teen celebrating readers and geeks with healthy vocabularies:



Do you have a favorite poem or slam performance? Share the link below and what you love about it, for a chance to win!

SPEAK

Ten years ago Laurie Halse Anderson wrote a book that is now considered a classic of teen literature. I don't say classic with the dusty and boring connotation it often means to me; I say it in that SPEAK helped set the tone for quality and truth in the teen fiction explosion that soon followed. In my opinion. Anyway, SPEAK has touched many, many lives, and in honor of that and its ten-year anniversary, LHA wrote a poem of tribute to all those people who have wrote to her over the last decade to share how Melinda's story in SPEAK touched their lives.

Here is the video of her reading her poem:



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