April 14, 2013
Spleen by Charles Baudelaire (translated by Norman R. Shapiro) When, on our groaning, ennui-ridden soul, The heavens hang low, weigh like a lid, pressed tight; When, circling the horizon like a bowl, They pour a daylight sad as blackest night; . When earth turns dungeon dank, where Hope, much like A bat, entrapped, in desperation […]
April 13, 2013
Haiku inspired by Machiavelli’s The Prince by David M. Bader What I learned at court: Being more feared than loved — good. Getting poisoned — bad. . This poem was selected by Olivia M. (Readers’ Services) Poetry Copyright Notice
April 12, 2013
Pachyderm by Sherman Alexie 1. Sheldon decided he was an elephant. . 2. Everywhere he went, he wore a gray t-shirt, gray sweat pants, and gray basketball shoes. . 3. He also carried a brass trumpet that he’d painted white. . 4. Sometimes he used that trumpet as a tusk. . […]
April 11, 2013
Isabel Allende and Michael Lewis have won this year’s prestigious Carl Sandburg Literary Awards, presented by the Chicago Public Library Foundation and the Chicago Public Library. The annual award “honors an author whose significant body of work has enhanced the public’s awareness of the written word.” Evanston-based author Christine Sneed will be also be honored […]
April 11, 2013
Last year I posted about this new project which sounds very exciting in terms of the vast amount of information it should make available to everyone. Well, it is about to launch next week. The Digital Public Library of America‘s stated goal is “… to make the holdings of America’s research libraries, archives, and museums […]
April 11, 2013
Disobedience by A.A. Milne James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree Took great Care of his Mother Though he was only three. James James Said to his Mother, “Mother,” he said, said he; “You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don’t go down with me.”
April 10, 2013
Piano and Scene by David Berman A child needs to know the point of the holiday. . His aunt is saying grace over a decaffeinated coffee and her daughter is reading a Russian novel whose 45 chapters are set on 45 consecutive Valentine’s Days. . Grandpa is telling the kids fairy tales from Pennsylvania’s […]
April 9, 2013
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has just created a new website featuring Curious George in several digital formats. You can choose from apps, books, games, all with educational content and on different grade levels. Another new wrinkle is the direct selling to parents and educators instead of booksellers. One can almost imagine […]
April 9, 2013
Emplumada by Lorna Dee Cervantes When summer ended the leaves of snapdragons withered taking their shrill-colored mouths with them. They were still, so quiet. They were violet where umber now is. She hated and hated to see them go. Flowers . born when the weather was good – this she thinks of, watching the […]
April 8, 2013
Remembrance by M.J., a Warsaw ghetto poet (translated by Yala Korwin) You saw blood of the homeless and innocent. You heard the voices mocking them. You saw a beast jumping out of the crowd, Heard the laugh, looking into living eyes When smoke enveloped the silence Of other voices. . You came back to your […]
