Poetry Friday--Visual Poetry

Visual poetry, also known as concrete poetry, to me, is a combination of words and design. It can be clever (though sometimes a bit too clever), thought-provoking, and stunning. In our young adult section we have two books by John Grandits: Technically, It's Not My Fault: Concrete Poems, and Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems [both YA 811.6 GRA], which are examples of this form of poetry. Here's a sample:

from Technically, It's Not My Fault: Concrete Poems

[Note: if it is difficult to make out the text, click on the image and it should open up larger.]

To learn more about visual/concrete poetry, explore The Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry. The Sackner Archive is the result of the effort of Ruth and Marvin Sackner who turned their home into a museum!

Its initial mission was to establish a collection of books, critical texts, periodicals, ephemera, prints, drawings, collages, paintings, sculptures, objects, manuscripts, and correspondence dealing with precedent and contemporary, internationally produced, concrete and visual poetry.
....

They added examples of typewriter art and poetry, experimental calligraphy, correspondence art, stamp art, sound poetry, performance poetry, micrography, assembling periodicals, ‘zines,’ graphic design, and artist magazines as well as conventional poetry and prose written by concrete/visual poets and artists in the collection.

To watch the video Concrete!, made by the Sachners' daughter, Sara, click here.

Please stop by On the Way to Somewhere for this week's Poetry Friday Round-Up!