Lee Criscuolo

Drop in to the England Run Branch each Friday this April at 4:00 pm for informal poetry readings in our “living room.” Bring a few poems to read or come to listen. Poems can be your own work or just ones you enjoy. If you’re a published poet, you’re welcome to bring copies of your work for people to purchase. No advance sign-up needed.

We’ll also be giving out poem scrolls all month long. Some of the poems were written by our own patrons, like this one! (posted here with permission of the author.) To submit your own poems, click here.
 

Spring Snow

Winter pauses spring,
Maple and forsythia
At the ready, waiting.
Cardinals, juncos and finches
Flit and feast, 
Instinct trumps weather.

by Lori Izykowski

Put your poems in someone’s pocket

If you’re an aspiring poet
We would sure like to know it
Send us your poem
You can do it from home
There’s no reason not to do it

Okay, I can see that my own poetry needs a little work. I’ll work on polishing it up. Meanwhile, we’re asking for some of your poems for Poem in Your Pocket Day ! In past years we’ve reprinted published poems (with permission), rolled them up into pocket sized scrolls and distributed them in the libraries.

This year we’d like to add some original poems by our patrons to this project. Submit as many of your original poems as you like via this online form, or via old-fashioned paper & ink at the research desk of any of our branches. We’ll select some to print & distribute in the form of beribboned scrolls in April (National Poetry Month.)

If you’ve never managed to make it all the way through this “great American classic,” NOW is the time to give it one more go! Wait, don’t click away! Hear me out! I’ve tried at least three times in the past to read Moby Dick & always get bogged down after a few chapters. All that whaling! All that boiling down of blubber! And, what is Ahab’s problem anyway?! So I’ve never “gotten” Moby Dick & never finished the book. I always abandon the Pequod, Ishmael, Ahab, & the gang and leave them floating in the middle of the ocean somewhere.

But NOT this time! You may have heard recently that writer, Philip Hoare, is leading a "big read" of Moby Dick, or, in this case, more like a “big listen.” He’s offering a chapter per day in free downloadable audio. There’s a different reader and a different artist’s illustration for each chapter.  I know about this because I have been reading, not a chapter per day, but a PAGE per day, of Moby Dick since August 9^th , 2012, and writing a blog about it.  So, several people who’ve been following my blog have told me about the big read project. “This guy stole your idea!” they say indignantly.

This readalike is in response to a patron's book-match request. If you would like personalized reading  recommendations, fill out the book-match form and a librarian will email suggested titles to you.  Available for adults, teens, and kids.

“The Dead Lie Down” by Sophie Hannah

“The Devil in the White City” by Eric Larsen