Friday, June 29, 2007

Poetry Friday--an ode to school librarians

Hey, look--two posts in two days! The other day, the lovely J. Patrick Lewis left a comment and poem on my blog, and I thought I'd re-post it as my first-ever Poetry Friday post:

Apropos of nothing at all, Alvina, I wanted to share with you my admiration for school librarians. I meet so many of them on author visits. Anyway, here's a
new sonnet:

xo, Pat

School Librarian Day
April 4

The School Librarian

A sign hangs on her door,
BOOKLYN, NEW YORK [sic]
WE OPEN UP THE MIND
YOU’LL NEVER CLOSE!
When you walk in, the whole library knows—
A welcome bell hums like a tuning fork.
She’ll tell you what to read and what to skip.
You name a book; she heads right to the shelf.
The rumor is she’s read them all herself.
No one has ever run a tighter ship.
These days, a job like hers is electronic
Because computers answer every need.
Librarians belong to a new breed.
But here at Booklyn, isn’t it ironic?
She still treats books like they are dreams come true.
And you had better treat them that way, too.


Thanks, Pat! Happy Friday, everyone.

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