Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice"
to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Beth,
Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lanny
Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lanny
for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday
and nurturing our writing lives.
and nurturing our writing lives.
Grandson Jack and I headed to the Kirkland Library this morning for a program with Eric Ode - singer, songwriter, author, and poet. I arrived 15 minutes early to find the room almost filled to capacity. It turns out that their usual preschool story hour is at 10 am, but today's special program was scheduled for 10:30, so the regulars were already there. It was a delightful morning of alphabetic fun filled with songs and stories.
However, the high point of the morning came when Jack and I went into the library to check out some books. We picked up a few board books, looked at the Choice Reads display, and then headed to the 811s for some poetry books. (After all, Poem in Your Pocket Day is on April 26th and I like to have a full display for the lunch crowd at the middle school.) But on our way to the 811s, the most amazing thing happened. A young man, a library employee, was in front of us, walking by the computer stations. Well, if you want the rest of the story, read the haiku I wrote in honor of this young man.
Young man roams aisles
Speaks to homeless by first name
Kindly checking in.
National Poetry Month 2018
"Give praise with friends near and far,
flinging words to the sky!"
- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
"Give praise with friends near and far,
flinging words to the sky!"
- Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
what a lovely haiku. what a lovely story. And what an excellent young man. BTW, is that your pillow in the photo? It's lovely too.
ReplyDeleteIt is mine. Wish I could say I made it, but I bought it at a craft show.
DeleteIt is a kindness story. The homeless use our libraries as refuges too. There aren't many public places anymore. Nice, Ramona.
ReplyDeleteThe backstory that leads up to the haiku was a wonderful glimpse into what libraries should be-places of excitement and fun. The haiku made me stop and think: Who are the homeless? I thought they were the books that needed to be reshelved. After all, I have been known to speak to myself. It looks like from the rest of the comments that he was indeed talking with homeless people. That makes your story even more powerful!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful haiku, and it sounds like this library employee was so kind!
ReplyDeleteThe haiku makes a wonderful ending for this slice. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteThis haiku brings a lump to my throat. When I lsee homeless people, I always wonder about their stories, who they were as children, who loves them, how they came to be homeless. I love that the librarian seems to have taken time to find out those things.
ReplyDelete