Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Poet Philip Levine (a former Detroiter too--HUZZAH!) has just been named the next United State Poet Laureate, succeeding W.S. Merwin . See the full story here . This poem touched me; made me think of home; made me a little sad for what used to be, the Detroit of my parents' childhood, the Detroit of my grandparents. Also, welcome new follower antonio0500! "An Abandoned Factory, Detroit" The gates are chained, the barbed-wire fencing stands, An iron authority against the snow, And this grey monument to common sense Resists the weather. Fears of idle hands, Of protest, men in league, and of the slow Corrosion of their minds, still charge this fence. Beyond, throug h broken windows one can see Where the great presses paused between their strokes And thus remain, in air suspended, caught In the sure margin of eternity. The cast-iron wheels have stopped; one counts the spokes Which movement blurred, the struts inertia fought, And estimates the loss of hu...

Your absence has gone through me Like thread through a needle Everything I do is stitched with its color. ~W.S. Merwin, "Separation" Gone - flitted away, Taken the stars from the night and the sun From the day! Gone, and a cloud in my heart. ~Alfred Tennyson If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.     ~ Claudia Ghandi Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night.  I miss you like hell.    ~ Edna St Vincent Millay I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long.  If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night.   ~ Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes  

Thinking about how we are going to cut down our Christmas tree has reminded me of this, a favorite poem (which I know I've shared on my blog before.) Lovely, lovely. Unchopping A Tree Start with the leaves, the small twigs, and the nests that have been shaken, ripped, or broken off by the fall; these must be gathered and attached once again to their respective places. It is not arduous work, unless major limbs have been smashed or mutilated. If the fall was carefully and correctly planned, the chances of anything of the kind happening will have been reduced. Again, much depends upon the size, age, shape, and species of the tree. Still, you will be lucky if you can get through this stages without having to use machinery. Even in the best of circumstances it is a labor that will make you wish often that you had won the favor of the universe of ants, the empire of mice, or at least a local tribe of squirrels, and could enlist their labors and their talents. But no, they leave you to i...

Our library has been preparing slowly preparing for renovation work for months now, though it seems that each day in preparation of renovations, we are already renovating. Deconstructing really. It remindes me of Merwin's poem, Unchopping a tree , which is a dear favorite of mine and reminds me of my wonderful friend Beth, who can actually quote long poems, a feat of which I have never mastered! So, in my ode to Merwin, my poem (though mine is in the reverse-while he is putting his tree back together, we are taking our library apart. Deconstructing a library Start with the books, heavy, dusty old collections, or new, sheltered, barely broken by service; these must be gathered into the arms of the cart bearing men, who clatter them down onto wooden semi-permanence. This does not take long, unless a spine is broken, and goes unnoticed, until the meat of the book falls onto the floor. If the move was well planned everything will come together as a well choreographed dance; each moment...