Tag: poetry

National Poetry Month: April 9th

April 9, 2015

The Day Winds Up the Opposite by August Wilson

Hearing her disembodied voice wash over me,
A cascade of coin and blessing,
With the delicious sounds of her waking

I thought today might be a day of blazing sun
With her hair a forest of red birds announcing themselves with song & surety

That each whisper of wind moved to mute song
& singing make a world of silence.

And then I remembered the warning
Issued by my old, tired, bedazzled heart:

The space between a man’s hand
& a woman’s hair
are filled with many passages
of tremor and trust.

backlit woman

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

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 8th

April 8, 2015

To A Waterfowl by Donald Hall

Women with hats like the rear ends of pink ducks
applauded you, my poems.
These are the women whose husbands I meet on airplanes,
who close their briefcases and ask, “What are you in?”
I look in their eyes, I tell them I am in poetry,

and their eyes fill with anxiety, and with little tears.
“Oh, yeah?” they say, developing an interest in clouds.
“My wife, she likes that sort of thing? Hah-hah?
I guess maybe I’d better watch my grammar, huh?”
I leave them in airports, watching their grammar,

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National Poetry Month: April 6th

April 6, 2015

Tulips by Sylvia Plath

The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.
Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in
I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly
As the light lies on these white walls, this bed, these hands.
I am nobody; I have nothing to do with explosions.
I have given my name and my day-clothes up to the nurses
And my history to the anesthetist and my body to surgeons.

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National Poetry Month: April 5th

April 5, 2015

After a Month of Rain by Linda Pastan

Everything I thought I wanted
is right here,
particularly when the sun
is making such a comeback,

Lilac--Raindrops_artand the lilac engorged
with purple has recovered
from its severe pruning,
and you will be back soon

to dispel whatever it is
that overtakes me like leaf blight,
even on a day like this. I can still
hear remnants of the rain

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National Poetry Month: April 4th

April 4, 2015

The Trees by Philip Larkin

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old?
No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Budding-Oak-leaves

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

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 3rd

April 3, 2015

My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.

happy-old-man-drinking-glass-of-beer-everett

This poem was selected by Heather R. (Adult Services Librarian)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 2nd

April 2, 2015

Cheerios by Billy Collins

One bright morning in a restaurant in Chicago
as I waited for my eggs and toast,
I opened the Tribune only to discover
that I was the same age as Cheerios.

Indeed, I was a few months older than Cheerios
for today, the newspaper announced
was the seventieth birthday of Cheerios
whereas mine had occurred earlier in the year.

Already I could hear them whispering
behind my stooped and threadbare back,
Why that dude’s older than Cheerios
the way they used to say

Why that’s as old as the hills,
only the hills are much older than Cheerios
or any American breakfast cereal,
and more noble and enduring are the hills,

I surmised as a bar of sunlight illuminated my orange juice.

cheerios 2

This poem was selected by Kate K. (North Branch)

Poetry Copyright Notice

National Poetry Month: April 1st

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 Sunday afternoon I wandered out along
the Desplaines river
And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with their women and children and a keg of beer and an accordian.
.
happiness1.

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

Poetry Copyright Notice

April is National Poetry Month

aprilChances 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.  Off the Shelf has you covered.  You see, today we kick-off our 6th annual National Poetry Month extravaganza during which we showcase one staff-picked “Poem of the Day” for the entire month of April.  For your poetry pleasure, we’ll also have plenty of poetry news, quotes, features, and much, much more.  So sit back, relax, and stay awhile.  This poetry party is just getting started.

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