Tag: poetry

National Poetry Month: April 9th

April 9, 2011

Love’s Stratagems by Donald Justice

But these maneuverings to avoid
The touching of hands,
These shifts to keep the eyes employed
On objects more or less neutral
(As honor, for the time being, commands)
Will hardly prevent their downfall.
Stronger medicines are needed.
Already they find
None of their stratagems have succeeded,
Nor would have, no,
Not had their eyes been stricken blind,
Hands cut off at the elbow.

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

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National Poetry Month: April 8th

April 8, 2011

Mrs. Sullivan by Guy W. Longchamps

“Function follows form,”
Said Louis Sullivan one warm
Evening in Chicago drinking beer.
His wife said, “Dear,
I’m sure that what you meant
Is that form should represent
Function.  So it’s function that should be followed.”
Sullivan swallowed
And looked dimly far away
And said, “Okay,
Form follows function, then.”
He said it again,
A three-word spark
of modern arch-
Itectural brilliance
That would dazzle millions.
“Think I should write it down?”
He asked with a frown.
“Oh yes,” she said, “and here’s a pencil.”
He did and soon was influential.

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

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National Poetry Month: April 7th

April 7, 2011

The More Loving One by W.H. Auden

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.
How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.
Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.
Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

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

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A Few Writers on Poetry

April 6, 2011


Emily Dickinson


While searching for the perfect poem, I encountered this website (Poets’ Graves) with interesting quotes from well-known writers. Here are several I especially liked-

‘The poet is the priest of the invisible.’      Wallace Stevens

‘If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.’
Emily Dickinson

‘I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I’ll die like a poet.’    Bob Dylan

‘Poets aren’t very useful. / Because they aren’t consumeful or very produceful.’                Ogden Nash

Shira S.

National Poetry Month: April 6th

The Love-Hat Relationship by Aaron Belz

I have been thinking about the love-hat relationship.
It is the relationship based on love of one another’s hats.
The problem with the love-hat relationship is that it is superficial.
You don’t necessarily even know the other person.
Also it is too dependent on whether the other person
is even wearing the favored hat.  We all enjoy hats,
but they’re not something to build an entire relationship on.
My advice to young people is to like hats but not love them.
Try having like-hat relationships with one another.
See if you can find something interesting about
the personality of the person whose hat you like.

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

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National Poetry Month: April 5th

April 5, 2011

Happy As The Day Is Long by James Tate

I take the long walk up the staircase to my secret room.
Today’s big news: they found Amelia Earhart’s shoe, size 9.
1992: Charlie Christian is bebopping at Minton’s in 1941.
Today, the Presidential primaries have failed us once again.
We’ll look for our excitement elsewhere, in the last snow
that is falling, in tomorrow’s Gospel Concert in Springfield.
It’s a good day to be a cat and just sleep. Continue reading “National Poetry Month: April 5th” →

National Poetry Month: April 4th

April 4, 2011

Early Spring by Rainer Maria Rilke

Harshness vanished. A sudden softness
has replaced the meadows’ wintry grey.
Little rivulets of water changed
their singing accents. Tendernesses,

hesitantly, reach toward the earth
from space, and country lanes are showing
these unexpected subtle risings
that find expression in the empty trees.

This poem was selected by Rika G. (Reference Librarian)

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Mary Karr to Read at Art Institute April 5

April 3, 2011

You can hear poet and memoirist Mary Karr give a poetry reading at the Art Institute of Chicago, Rubloff Auditorium (230 S Columbus Dr) on Tuesday, April 5 at 6pm.  As fans of Karr’s widely read memoir Liars’ Club will know, Karr follows the dictum of her mentor, Tobias Wolff, to “tell a bit more truth than you’re comfortable with.” Admission is free.  Seating is first-come, first-served. Mary H., Reader’s Services

National Poetry Month: April 3rd

River by John Ashbery

It thinks itself too good for
These generalizations and is
Moved on by them.  The opposite side
Is plunged in shade, this one
In self-esteem.  But the center
Keeps collapsing and re-forming.
The couple at a picnic table (but
It’s too early in the season for picnics)
Are traipsed across by the river’s
Unknowing knowledge of its workings
To avoid possible boredom and the stain
Of too much intuition the whole scene
Is walled behind glass.  “Too early,”
She says, “in the season.”  A hawk drifts by.
“Send everybody back to the city.”

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

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