National Poetry Month: April 16th

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 tops of trees.
Because their legs have knobby knees.
Because
Because
Because
Because. That’s why
I like giraffes.

giraffe2

This poem was selected by Jan B. (Head of Children’s Services)

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National Poetry Month: April 15th

April 15, 2014

Dust If You Must by Rose Milligan

Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better
To paint a picture or write a letter,
Bake a cake or plant a seed,
Ponder the difference between want and need?
Dust if you must, but there’s not much time,
With rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
Music to hear, and books to read,
Friends to cherish and life to lead.
Dust if you must, but the world’s out there,
With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come round again.
Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it’s not kine.
And when you go – and go you must –
You, yourself, will make more dust.

dust

 This poem was selected by Nancy E. (North Branch)

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National Poetry Month: April 14th

April 14, 2014

Danse Russe by William Carlos Williams

If when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,–
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
“I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!”
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
against the yellow drawn shades,–

Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?

lost man

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

Poetry Copyright Notice


National Poetry Month: April 13th

April 13, 2014

I Write by Larrinita Starks

As I sit down on the bed and cut off the lights
I think about my life and begin to write
I write for the families dying on the streets
I am scared to lay down because of the gunshots in my sleep
I write because I am hurting, there are no more tears to cry
I am patiently waiting for my time to die Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 13th”



National Poetry Month: April 12th

Ode to My Socks by Pablo Neruda (translated by Robert Bly)

Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks. Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 12th”



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