poetry Archives - Page 22 of 28 - Evanston Public Library

National Poetry Month: April 28th

April 28, 2011

Baggage by Deborah Warren

Don’t tell me you expect to find a guy

who comes with just a daypack. That’s enough

to date on, maybe, but — to marry on?

You’re bothered by a little freight? But why?

Give me a man who’s travelling with stuff,

with serious luggage, not just carry-on —

whole skeletons in Samsonite; who brings

impedimenta — parents, kids, ex-wife,

outstanding loans. The stained and rumpled things

in steamer trunks and duffles are a life:

The more of it the better. Where you’ve been

and what you’ve brought along — if you’ve been far

and filled a lot of battered leather, then

don’t call it baggage. It’s just what you are.

This poem was selected by Jeff B. (Reader’s Services)

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National Poetry Month: April 27th

April 27, 2011

Anti-Love Poem by Grace Paley

Sometimes you don’t want to love the person you love

you turn your face away from that face

whose eyes lips might make you give up anger

forget insult steal sadness of not wanting

to love turn away then turn away at breakfast

in the evening don’t lift your eyes from the paper

to see that face in all its seriousness a

sweetness of concentration he holds his book

in his hand the hard-knuckled winter wood-

scarred fingers turn away that’s all you can

do old as you are to save yourself from love

This poem was selected by Mary H. (Reader’s Services)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 26th

April 26, 2011

His Future as Attila the Hun by Timothy Donnelly

But when I try to envision what it might be like to live

detached from the circuitry that suffers me to crave

what I know I’ll never need, or what I need but have

in abundance already, I feel the cloud of food-court

breakfast loosen its embrace, I feel the shopping center

drop as its escalator tenders me up to the story

intended for conference space. I feel my doubt diminish, my debt

diminish; I feel a snow that falls on public statuary Continue reading →

An Interview with Charlotte Digregorio

April 25, 2011

Charlotte Digregorio is an award-winning author, teacher, and poet in the traditional Japanese form of haiku. Her poetry has been featured in such publications as Modern Haiku, frogpond, The University of Chicago Magazine, bottle rockets, and Shamrock Haiku Journal, and as Midwest Regional Coordinator of the Haiku Society of America, the Winnetka resident works tirelessly to promote haiku through workshops, conferences, and contests. On May 7th, you can hear Ms. Digregorio speak about the history of haiku when EPL proudly hosts Haikufest from 1-5:30 p.m. in our 1st Floor Community Meeting Room. Featuring a writing workshop, haiku contest, book signings, and additional talks by prolific haikuists and artists, Haikufest is a free, HSA-sponsored poetry event that promises to education and inspire haiku lovers both new and old. To pre-register, simply contact Ms. Digregorio at (847) 881-2664 or EPL at (847) 448-8600. In anticipation of Haikufest, we recently spoke with Ms. Digregorio via email where she shared some of her haiku and poetic inspirations, discussed her work with HSA, and previewed Haikufest’s exciting line-up of speakers.

Continue reading “An Interview with Charlotte Digregorio” →

National Poetry Month: April 25th

The Lady’s Reward by Dorothy Parker

Lady, lady, never start

Conversation toward your heart;

Keep your pretty words serene;

Never murmur what you mean.

Show yourself, by word and look,

Swift and shallow as a brook.

Be as cool and quick to go

As a drop of April snow;

Be as trenchant and as gay

As a cherry flower in May.

Lady, lady, never speak

Of the tears that burn your cheek–

She will never win him, whose

Words had shown she feared to lose.

Be you wise and never sad,

You will get your lovely lad.

Never serious be, nor true,

And your wish will come to you–

And if that makes you happy, kid,

You’ll be the first it ever did.

This poem was selected by Olivia M. (Reader’s Services)

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National Poetry Month: April 24th

April 24, 2011

Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains

One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,

But being too happy in thine happiness,–

That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,

In some melodious plot

Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,

Singest of summer in full-throated ease. Continue reading →

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

April 23, 2011

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.

This poem was selected by Russell J. (Reader’s Services)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 22nd

April 22, 2011

Long Gone Lonesome Blues by A.E. Stallings

Death was something that hadn’t happened yet.

I was driving in my father’s pickup truck

At some late hour, the hour of broken luck.

It seeped up through the dashboard’s oubliette,

Clear voice through the murk — the radio was set

Halfway between two stations and got stuck.

But the words sobbed through, and I was suddenly struck

Like a gut string in the key of flat regret.

The voice came from beyond the muddy river —

You know the one, the one that’s cold as ice.

Even then, it traveled like a shiver

Through my tributary veins — but twice

As melancholy to me now, because

I’m older than Hank Williams ever was.

This poem was selected by Jeff B. (Reader’s Services)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 21st

April 21, 2011

Happiness by Raymond Carver

So early it’s still almost dark out.

I’m near the window with coffee,

and the usual early morning stuff

that passes for thought.

When I see the boy and his friend

walking up the road

to deliver the newspaper.

They wear caps and sweaters,

and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.

They are so happy

they aren’t saying anything, these boys.

I think if they could, they would take

each other’s arm.

It’s early in the morning,

and they are doing this thing together.

They come on, slowly.

The sky is taking on light,

though the moon still hangs pale over the water.

Such beauty that for a minute

death and ambition, even love,

doesn’t enter into this.

Happiness. It comes on

unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,

any early morning talk about it.

This poem was selected by Rika Ghorbani (Reference Librarian)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 20th

April 20, 2011

Don’t Go Far Off, Not Even for a Day by Pablo Neruda

Don’t go far off, not even for a day, because —

because — I don’t know how to say it: a day is long

and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station

when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don’t leave me, even for an hour, because

then the little drops of anguish will all run together,

the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift

into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;

may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.

Don’t leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you’ll have gone so far

I’ll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,

Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

This poem was selected by Lesley W. (Reference Librarian)