All library locations are open and fully operational today, Friday, July 5.
April 21, 2014
The Whippoorwill by Conrad Aiken Last night, as I lay half awake, A whippoorwill was in this tree, And sang, for the three-quarters moon, Another whippoorwill, and me. At first, I heard him far away — A ghostly whiplash. Then I heard, From the tall tree beneath the moon, What seemed indeed a different bird […]
April 20, 2014
As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes It was a long time ago. I have almost forgotten my dream. But it was there then, In front of me, Bright like a sun— My dream. And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. Rose until it touched the sky— The wall. […]
April 19, 2014
Analfabeta by Jacqueline Osherow . .for Laura Dondoli, in memory of her great-grandfather I have a friend whose great-grandfather learned to read From an uncle blinded in battle under Garibaldi; He wanted Dante read to him aloud And the boy learned to distinguish our unwieldy Signs as simple sketches from his world, Each with an […]
April 18, 2014
Check out this amazing clip of legendary Beat poet Allen Ginsberg reciting a poem on William F. Buckley Jr.’s conservative talk show “Firing Line.” Enjoy! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCWbVl4IKpU]
April 18, 2014
Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Listen, my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.
April 17, 2014
Nobel-Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez died today in Mexico City at age 87. The Colombian novelist “widely considered the most popular Spanish-language writer since Miguel de Cervantes in the 17th century,” was a master of the literary genre magic realism. In a 1984 interview with NPR, he said his writing was forever shaped by […]
April 17, 2014
“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” — Emily Dickinson
April 17, 2014
Motion by Octavio Paz If you are the amber mare . .I am the road of blood If you are the first snow . .I am he who lights the hearth of dawn If you are the tower of night . .I am the spike burning in your mind
April 16, 2014
This year’s Pulitzer Prize Winners were announced Monday at New York’s Columbia University. The prizes honoring excellence in journalism and the arts have been awarded since 1917. This year’s recipients include The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt in the Fiction category; The Flick by Annie Baker for Drama; The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, […]
April 16, 2014
Giraffes by Mary Ann Hoberman Giraffes I like them. Ask me why. Because they hold their heads up high. Because their necks stretch to the sky. Because they’re quiet, calm, and shy. Because they run so fast they fly. Because their eyes are velvet brown. Because their coats are spotted tan. Because they eat the […]
