Other Boxes

 Friday's post prompted an email from our neighbor Anne Selby about some of our neighborhood poetry boxes.  Anne had ferreted out boxes on Whitbeck Blvd and McMillian Street.  These were two boxes I hadn't heard of so I had to take a morning stroll and check them out.  I'm a total map geek so after my walk I went over to Google Maps and put together a Books & Poems Map.

Local Map of Neighborhood Library & Poetry Boxes

  The map above shows the three little free libraries nearby and three different poetry boxes.  Yesterday I met a retired school librarian Hope Crandall who lives near Friendly Park and is spearheading a lending library (approved by the city) right in Friendly Park.  Hope & I chatted about our neighborhood's experience with the library box and her plans for Friendly.  This type of community sharing and conversation is so enjoyable and one of the many chats that Whitty-Storeys has initiated.

  The College Hill Poetry Station was featuring the late Seamus Heaney's poem Digging.  The McMillian St Poetry box had two poets I wasn't familiar with, one an Iraqui poet Adnan Al Sayegh with a poem "God's Money" and a cool slam poem entitled "Pretty" by Katie Makkai.

 Check out Pretty, the link is an excellent demonstration of the essential live element of slam poetry.  The poetry box on Whitbeck had a fitting poem for a sign off.

                It is difficult
                to get the news from poems
                          yet men die miserably every day
                                    for lack
                of what is found there.

William Carlos Williams