National Poetry Month Community Project Posts

by Debbie Engelhardt, 2020

It’s a building full of books
(Want to take some home?)
It’s a place to be with others
When you’re feeling all alone.
 

It’s a place to take a class
Or to grab a DVD,
To bump into a neighbor,
Get your taxes done for free!
 

It’s a friendly space for people
In our community
Who don’t have very much 
And need a safe place to just “be”.
 

But, wait!
It’s closed!
That library we knew-
Where does that now leave us?
What’s a librarian
(And a community) to do?
 

Books are online to read and listen to!
Get a card on the web;
Your e-Library’s here for you!
 

Stream movies all month long 
(Hoopla and kanopy are great!)
And there’s nothing to return
So your stuff is never late!
 

If social media’s where you are,
Our Facebook game is strong,
Our website’s up-to-date,
Our virtual events list long!
 

Paint and Sip!
Hear a poem or story!
Try a new recipe – 
You’ll be in your glory!
 

Our Tik Toks amuse-
They’ll make you laugh!
You’ll see the hard work
Of our amazing staff!
 

For a library is people.
It’s you and it’s me.
A community center – 
Now virtually!
 

So visit today!
Be a part once again
Of all the Library offers-
And reconnect with old friends!
https://www.cplib.org

by Lucille Sanders, 2020

As summer’s end
invites in the cool night air
and a perceptible shift
in the sun’s light,
my time
for swimming in the warmth and buoyancy
of the Long Island Sound
is waning.

That always near,
yet almost unconscious
ache and stiffness
that is my body

being transformed,

by movement
through water and salt,

into the feeling of silken muscle,

will once again
become a memory
and a desire.

A desire deepening
into moments of longing
as I delight in walking
into the relief of more refreshing temperatures
and the softer embrace of the sun’s gentle golden light
dappling
throughout the fading green,
maroon-red, rusting-yellow and cinnamon-brown tapestry
that is the forest in fall.

by Sarah Layer, 2020

If life was all blue skies
And there was no rain
Then there’d be no growth
And there’d be no change

No colorful flowers
No green grass
All those colors would never last

Everything would die and wither away
The life-living green would surely turn to grey

So remember in life when storm clouds come
It only means change, a colorful sum
So endure the rain clouds for a time
Because soon the sun will be shining with everything fine

Don’t ever forget
No matter how long you live, this simple phrase-
It takes the rain and clouds
To make better days

by Linda and Robert Baacke, 2020

A Poem my Father and I wrote, when I was a child:

The little Bee flies through the storm

For a place in the woods that will keep him warm.

All through the wind and the rain he sleeps

Until the dawn around him creeps

by Gloria Steiding, 2020

A gossamer mist like ghosts, moves across the still water
 
As the sun climbs to its perch
 
The mountains hold us close  
 
A monarch, with summer memories, drifts by
 
While Autumn begins its brilliant descent
 
Our colors fade
 
Your hand, a sea anchor pausing movement 
 
Facing us towards the storm’s oncoming waves.