Tag: National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month: April 26th

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? Empty. Here is a hand Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 26th” →

National Poetry Month: April 23rd (Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!)

April 23, 2014

Sonnet XXV by William Shakespeare

Let those who are in favor with their stars
Of public honor and proud titles boast,
Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars,
Unlooked for joy in that I honor most.
Great princes’ favorites their fair leaves spread
But as the marigold at the sun’s eye;
And in themselves their pride lies buried,
For at a frown they in their glory die.
The painful warrior famoused for fight,
After a thousand victories once foiled,
Is from the book of honor rased quite,
And all the rest forgot for which he toiled.
.    .Then happy I, that love and am beloved
.    .Where I may not remove nor be removed.

warrior

This poem was selected by Russell J. (Adult Services’ Librarian)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 22nd

April 22, 2014

Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought if only Casey could but get a whack at that–
We’d put up even money now with Casey at the bat. Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 22nd” →

National Poetry Month: April 21st

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 —

so near, so loud, so sweet he sang;
and what, far off, seemed harsh and strange,
Grew to a beauty in the moon,
Even as I listened seemed to change.

“Why? Why:” he asked….And then was gone
Without a sound of wing or leaf.
And the tall tree stood carved in stone;
The moonlight night as still as grief.

whippoorwill

This poem was selected by Laura H. (Adult Services Librarian)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 20th

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.
Shadow.
I am black.
I lie down in the shadow.
No longer the light of my dream before me,
Above me.
Only the think wall.
Only the shadow.
My hands!
My dark hands!
Break through the wall!
Find my dream!
Help me to shatter this darkness,
To smash this night,
To break this shadow
Into a thousand lights of sun,
Into a thousand whirling dreams
Of sun!

Faithless-brick-wall

This poem was selected by Lesley W. (Head of Adult Services)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 19th

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 unalterable melody:

Did he see two mountains touching, side by side?
They initiated Magic, Music, Mastery.
A three-pronged pitchfork’s unsupported head? Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 19th” →

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