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Poetry Prompt: Found in the Library

By Callie Feyen 13 Comments

What Stories Are Waiting To Be Found At The Library?

Edward Hirsch wishes to find that boy he once was, who flew around the library on Sundays, reading and scribbling notes and pictures and “singing with joy.” He’d give anything to find him, Hirsch tells us in his poem, “Branch Library.” I think I knew that boy. He was a runner—skinny legs and skinny arms—and everywhere he went he ran. It wasn’t because he was rushing, or couldn’t wait to get there, it was because he loved to run. He never told any of us that, but watching him we all knew. He bounced, he pranced, he flew, always with a pencil behind his ear and books tucked under his arm: an Archie comic, Calvin and Hobbes, a Gary Paulsen book, and probably Garfield. All the boys loved Garfield.

I never said a word to him, only watched him run.

One summer day though, I was in the library when he was there, too. It was one of those in-between seasons of life when something has ended but the next something hasn’t begun, and there’s not too much to do but listen to the cicadas’ song and wait. Well, I guess the other thing to do is go to the library, which is what I did. Probably I was wishing to find someone, too.

I was at the card catalogue when he showed up next to me. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular. I just loved the order of the cards—how they were organized with their call numbers and one hole punched at the bottom so the bar kept them all together and in place. I liked the sturdiness of them. I liked pretending I knew what I was looking for.

He smiled and I turned red, and he smiled even bigger and moved to a section of the catalogue and filed through the cards with determination. When he found what he was looking for, he made eye contact with me again, then held up a finger, telling me to wait.

I stayed where I was and watched him dash silently over to the nonfiction books in the kids’ section. He pulled a slim, white book off the shelf and clutched it to his chest so I couldn’t see the title. Once he made sure I was watching him, he flipped the book around to reveal its title: “What’s happening to me?” the large, black letters screamed, and I smacked my hands over my mouth so as to prevent the laugh that wanted to escape. The boy’s face matched the title: confused, bewildered, agonized, and my hands became fists in an effort to stop all the sounds of hysterics that were begging to be set free.

He pivoted, stuck the book back on the shelf, and walked to the fiction section, his face a mixture of calm and curiosity—just like he looked when he was running. I watched him choose a worn paperback from the “Adventure is Waiting” display. I watched him check the book out, tuck it underneath his arm, and walk out the library’s front doors. I would’ve had to move to the window to continue to watch him—and I thought about it—but I stayed where I was, and instead turned to the display of books waiting to show me an adventure and felt a spark like a fire that’s just been started at the thought that I’m the one who gets to choose, while the boy outside ran; he flew.

Try It: Library Poetry Prompt

Who do you hope to find in the library? Who have you found in the library? This week, write a poem about being found, or maybe being lost and then found, in a card catalogue, a stack of books, a display promising adventure, and all you have to do is turn the page.

Photo by Bill Reynolds Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Callie Feyen.

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Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.
Callie Feyen
Latest posts by Callie Feyen (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Women Are Dancing - March 20, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Found in the Library - March 13, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Library of Memories - March 6, 2023

Filed Under: Blog, Libraries, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, writer's group resources, writing prompt, writing prompts

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About Callie Feyen

Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

Comments

  1. L.L. Barkat says

    March 13, 2023 at 11:36 am

    This was so sweet, Callie. I especially loved the ending (which felt almost like the ending of a YA book to me. 🙂 ) Very satisfying! 🙂

    Reply
    • Callie Feyen says

      March 14, 2023 at 9:07 am

      Thank you! “felt almost like the ending of a YA book to me” is a HIGH compliment and dream. Thank you.

      Reply
  2. Dheepa R. Maturi says

    March 13, 2023 at 11:55 am

    Such magic in a tiny interaction! Lovely!

    Reply
    • Callie Feyen says

      March 14, 2023 at 9:08 am

      Thank you, Dheepa. “Magic” is exactly what I was going for. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Sharmen Oswald says

    March 25, 2023 at 4:04 pm

    I am a School Librarian. Therefore, I find students and children of all ages and walks of life in the Library. I even found one hiding in the Library one time! In my imagination, and in the students’ imagination, the Library is like an island where magic happens and where students’ lives matter.

    Library Island
    (A Pantoum)

    Welcome to Library Island
    Where all belong
    Where everything is grand
    Come join the song!

    Where all belong
    It’s who we are
    Come join the song
    Everyone’s a star!

    It’s who we are
    We welcome you
    Everyone’s a star
    Your dreams to pursue!

    We welcome you
    Come join the band
    Your dreams to pursue
    Welcome to Library Island!

    Reply
    • L.L. Barkat says

      March 27, 2023 at 12:29 pm

      Love the idea of Library Island (and somehow it was double playing in my mind as “Liberty Island” 🙂

      Also, that is so cool that you are a School Librarian. Now I understand a little better how you plan to work with National Poetry Month and nature in the schools! 🙂

      Reply
      • Sharmen Oswald says

        March 27, 2023 at 12:39 pm

        I can also see Liberty Island as a metaphor when talking and writing about libraries – freedom of information, freedom to be who you choose, freedom to read what your choose….and the list goes on.

        Reply
        • L.L. Barkat says

          March 27, 2023 at 2:02 pm

          Ohhh.

          LOVE that. 🙂

          Reply
    • Katie Spivey Brewster says

      March 27, 2023 at 8:08 pm

      YES, “where all belong” 🙂

      Reply
  4. Sharmen Oswald says

    March 25, 2023 at 4:08 pm

    This Library poem melds my love of cooking with my love of Libraries.

    Start with books, the more the better.
    Cream in several magazines,
    Mix well together.

    Fold in children, one at a time,
    Very slowly to allow their essence
    To permeate the mixture.

    Top off with a well-marinated librarian,
    Seasoned with a love for igniting the spark
    In the fire of reading for all children.

    Cook for as long as it takes
    To rise to the top and serve
    To the community for a
    Healthy diet of life-long learning.

    Reply
  5. John Davis Jr. says

    March 26, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    When I was a university professor, I had a long midday break, and I’d use it to go down the street to one of the most phenomenal public libraries I’ve ever been to and get some writing done. Sadly, the place has gone downhill in recent years (they’ve even had to install security cameras in the bathrooms!). But my memory of how it once was is pretty well encapsulated in the following poem:

    Quiet Study Area #2: Largo Public Library

    These book-thick rafters have housed
    a thousand whispers: shelf inquiries
    and future hopes risen like moths.

    Flitting phantom questions
    mingle with day-lit dust motes,
    linger and hover until their powdery
    beige frames litter windowsills.

    Fatigued from attempted escape, they rest,
    paper-quiet until a whisk broom of sunshine
    sweeps curiosities into particles.

    Triangular trusses point wings upward
    as hushed word-spirits ignite among beams,
    glimmering like gilded pages, like answers
    unbound from their spines. They fly.

    Reply
    • Sharmen Oswald says

      March 26, 2023 at 6:50 pm

      I can visualize Quiet Study Area #2 because of the imagery you used. I especially like “paper-quiet until a whisk broom of sunshine/sweeps curiosities into particles”. Not too many know what is a whisk broom, but I do and can appreciate it in your poem. So much more effective than just “a broom”.

      Reply
      • L.L. Barkat says

        March 27, 2023 at 12:26 pm

        I loved that part, too Sharmen. 🙂

        Reply

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