Everything Old is New Again: Altering Used Books into Poetry

Sometimes technology isn't about gadgets, the internet, or anything we'd consider 'high tech'. Sometimes it's about simply reimagining: taking something old and turning it into something beautiful and new. [Don't make me go into the Greek etymology of technology; I will if I have to.]

The site I'd like to talk about today involves exactly this kind of technology. Altered Books, a part of Dan Waber's logolalia, is an intriguing project that takes pages from books bought at used book sales and turns them into poetry by scratching out all but a few words.

This method can range from simply scratching out the words with black pencil, to creating a stunning piece of visual art. The latter choice is well-represented by the pictured piece, 'West of Dodge Poem 88' by Nico Vassilakis.

Waber describes the project in this way: 'The Idea: Cut the bindings off of books found at a used book store. Find poems in the pages by the process of obliteration. Put pages in the mail and send them all around the world. Lather, rinse, repeat.' So far the repetition part has particularly paid off, and the project's collaborators form an impressive roster of poets and artists. As the site points out, there are over 730 entries in the project.

We encourage you to try this out yourself: it's a little piece of artistic technology that's very easy to participate in, and it helps to breathe much-needed new life into old books. Good luck!