The Poetry Center staff loves a good pun, poetry reference, or play on words around Halloween. Here's some of our all-time favorite costumes from over the years to inspire your own Halloween Costumes for Poets!
"Poultry" Center
A classic from our library staff is a play on Poetry Center—with the slant rhyme "poultry." Multiple iterations have made their debuts over the years, including a hula-hoop dotted with chickens, as well as a rubber chicken topping off a football center costume.
Poetry "Centaur"
A magnificent mashup of horse/human, punnery, and playfulness, this homemade centaur comes with a torso wrapped in poems!
Whitman's Multitudes
"I contain multitudes" comes from Whitman's poem Song of Myself.
If you're familiar with poetry, you've likely encountered one of Walt Whitman's most famous lines: "I contain multitudes." Well, librarian Julie Swarstad Johnson took that to heart and, identified by her 'Walt' name tag, carried an abundance of lidded multitudes all day long.
Emily Dickinson
Right: Emily Dickinson, who is presumably pleased by the tribute.
Never one to shy away from a poetry reference, Julie Swarstad Johnson has also debuted as Emily Dickinson, invoking the poem "I dwell in Possibility –" by residing in an office labeled accordingly.
A Crown of Sonnets
Though most of us are familiar with a sonnet, a 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme, did you know there is a play on the form called a crown of sonnets? The sonnet redoublé, also known as a crown of sonnets, comprises 15 sonnets tied together by first and final lines: the final line of one sonnet reappearing as the first line of the next sonnet. (If you're curious to see an example, here's Bruce Snider’s poem “Devotions.”)
True to form, Julie Swarstad Johnson constructed a paper crown adorned with Shakespearean sonnets.
What's next for the Poetry Center? Edgar Allen BRO? Two diverging roads in a wood? A sonnet net? Only time will tell....