The Main and the Robert Crown Branches of EPL will be closed Dec. 24th & Dec. 25th. We will reopen Dec. 26th for regular library hours.
April 1, 2015
Happiness by Carl Sandburg I asked professors who teach the meaning of life to tell me what is happiness. And I went to famous executives who boss the work of thousands of men. They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though I was trying to fool with them. And then one […]
April 1, 2015
Chances are good it snuck up on you. Between the madness of your NCAA brackets, binge-watching The Jinx, and owning the runway at New York Fashion Week, you very likely didn’t notice National Poetry Month peeking around the corner. But April is here, friends, and fortunately you’ve come to THE place for your poetry celebration. […]
June 26, 2014
This month for Poetry 365 we’re featuring Vijay Seshadri’s remarkable new book 3 Sections. Winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, this third collection from the regular New Yorker essayist and book critic employs a wide array of poetic forms to examine modern consumer culture, age-old angst, and Seshardri’s South Asian Heritage. Favorably compared […]
April 30, 2014
Time sure flies when you’re having fun. It’s hard to believe another National Poetry Month is already drawing to a close, but for one last hurrah, don’t miss this great clip of actor Bill Murray reading a pair of Wallace Stevens’ poems. Enjoy, and make sure to keep coming back to Off the Shelf for […]
April 30, 2014
Classic Ballroom Dances by Charles Simic Grandmothers who wring the necks Of chickens; old nuns With names like Theresa, Marianne, Who pull schoolboys by the ear; The intricate steps of pickpockets Working the crowd of the curious At the scene of an accident; the slow shuffle Of the evangelist with a sandwich board; The hesitation […]
April 29, 2014
From the Dark Tower by Countee Cullen We shall not always plant while others reap The golden increment of bursting fruit, Not always countenance, abject and mute, That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap; Not everlastingly while others sleep Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute, Not always bend to some more subtle […]
April 28, 2014
Black Dog Goes to Art Colony by Maggie Anderson I like it here. I like it here. They do things in packs, At night they pile together on the floor. I lie down on the leather jackets and boots and the skinny ties I sink my teeth into and shake. Tonight, as usual, they are […]
April 27, 2014
Recuerdo by Edna St. Vincent Millay We were very tired, we were very merry– We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry. It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable– But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table, We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon; And […]
April 26, 2014
The Applicant by Sylvia Plath First, are you our sort of person? Do you wear A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch, A brace or a hook, Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch, Stitches to show something’s missing? No, no? Then How can we give you a thing? Stop crying. Open your hand. Empty? […]
April 25, 2014
Check out this wonderful clip of poet Matthew Dickman reading “Slow Dance.” Simply beautiful. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG0F2a3sw14]
