Brooklyn poets remember
Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History, Center for Brooklyn History
From the Vault: An Ode to Brooklyn Poets
Kevina, Center for Brooklyn History, Center for Brooklyn History
April is National Poetry Month: Booklist
All the Fighting Parts by Hannah V. Sawyerr: In the wake of being sexually assaulted by her pastor, sixteen-year-old Amina struggles to regain her footing until she finds the strength within herself to confront her abuser in court.Alma Presses Play by Tina Cane: In 1980s New York, half-Chinese, half-Jewish Alma, whose life is a series of halfways, uses her Walkman to get through the challenges thrown her way until she is ready to press play on the soundtrack of her life.An Impossible Thing to Say by Arya Shahi: In the aftermath of 9/11, high school sophomore Omid grapples with finding the…
Ten Verse Novels to Read in 2024
1. All the Fighting Parts by Hannah V Sawyerr: In the wake of being sexually assaulted by her pastor, sixteen-year-old Amina struggles to regain her footing until she finds the strength within herself to confront her abuser in court. 2. A Million Quiet Revolutions by Robin Gow: Two seventeen-year-old trans boys in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, struggling to understand themselves and their love for each other, are inspired by an online story about trans soldiers who fell in love during the American Revolution. 3. An Appetite for Miracles by Laekan Zea Kemp: With the…
The Poetry of Hip-Hop
What counts as poetry? Is it always tidy print marching down the path to find two roads diverging in the woods then stopping to wait for a death metaphor? Is it a barbaric yawp from the best minds of your generation from a poet who doesn’t even know it? What if we went beyond the confines of Western Lit 101 to uncover poetry that resonates with us now? At the most fundamental level, hip-hop and poetry both play with sound, turning them into meaning and then back to sound again, declaimed alone or to the sound of a drum machine or coiled inside a catchy song, verse/rhythm/rhyme from Tupac…
April is National Poetry Month
Did you know April is National Poetry Month? If you like to read poetry or verse novels check out the booklist below: A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman: Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance--so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who's grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest…
Banned: A Poem
Karen, Coordinator of Young Adult Services , Coordinator of Young Adult Services
This poem was submitted by Libby S., a teen living in Alabama. Banned. Banned. Your book is taken away from those who need it. Banned. Your story is no longer heard. Banned. Your voice is silenced by those who don’t want you to speak. Banned. You can no longer share with the world the experiences you’ve had. Banned. You can no longer help those with your writing. Banned. You can no longer provide a new opinion to a story. Banned. You can just sit and watch as people go about their day, no longer able to read your book. You know that there are people out there that need your book. You…
Poem in Your Pocket: 7 Poems & Their Reverberations
The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April 1996. The goal of National Poetry Month is to remind all that in a world awash in text, poetry matters. Every April since, poetry readers and nonreaders alike can’t help but notice poetry cropping up amongst the blooms of spring—poems suddenly adorning sandwich boards and subway cars, Instagram feeds, drivetime radio and especially in local library displays. This year, Off the Shelf invited four lovers of poetry to contribute a post for a Poem in Your Pocket series to gift our readers a new poem for every day of the week.…
Seasons
Enjoy this seasonal poem by seventh grader Christopher Thayer. Seasons by Christopher Thayer When the flakes as white as paper drizzle lightly on my palm, I wonder to myself when Summer will come. When I watch my breath float in the air, I wonder to myself when Summer will come. Just a few more months, I say to myself. When the new flowers in the yard start to bloom, I wonder to myself when Fall will come. When the bees fly from flower to flower, I wonder to myself when Fall will come. Just a few more months I say to myself. When I look at the windows splattered with rain, I wonder…
Poem in Your Pocket: 7 Stages of Grief
Adeeba Afshan Rana, NLS, NLS
The Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April 1996. The goal of National Poetry Month is to remind all that in a world awash in text, poetry matters. Every April since, poetry readers and nonreaders alike can’t help but notice poetry cropping up amongst the blooms of spring—poems suddenly adorning sandwich boards and subway cars, Instagram feeds, drivetime radio and especially in local library displays. This year, Off the Shelf invited four lovers of poetry to contribute a post for a Poem in Your Pocket series to gift our readers a new poem for every day of the week.…
Happy Birthday Marianne Moore
Jellyfish
Words I can never seem to find the right ones to express myself To convey the way you make my heart ache How it squeezes So much it becomes hard to breathe And tears overflow Creating a pool Our own personal sea Thousands and thousands of fish swim in my heated tears And in the midst of the scattered sea life You still manage to find me To hold To care for To love Words Such trivial things can make or break a soul Connect lives from across oceans as far as the eye can see And still I can’t find the ones to show how much I love you To express the endless nights of my constant…
A Selection of Poetry
She She was red, because people thought she was attractive and heartwarming She was green, because people thought she loved nature and got jealous easily She was blue, because people thought she was quiet and reserved She was yellow, because people thought she was optimistic and full of joy She was pink because people thought she was immature and oversensitive She was not purple because people thought she was predictable She was not orange because people thought she was fragile She was not gray because people thought she was attached She was not brown because people thought she was…
YA Verse Novels for National Poetry Month
Happy National Poetry Month! If you also like poetry, or novels-in-verse, check out any, or all of these five books! APPLE: SKIN TO THE CORE BY ERIC GANSWORTH: "The term "Apple" is a slur in Native communities across the country. It's for someone supposedly "red on the outside, white on the inside." Eric Gansworth is telling his story in Apple (Skin to the Core). The story of his family, of Onondaga among Tuscaroras, of Native folks everywhere. From the horrible legacy of the government boarding schools, to a boy watching his siblings leave and return and leave again, to a young…
A Poem for Ramadan
This poem is centered around Ramadan, a spiritual holy month for Muslims. I captured the importance and what this special month means to me. Also, how Ramadan shapes how I perceive everyday things and moments. I keep this month very close to my heart. which I attempted to write about in this poem. The Holy Month of Ramadan Indeed it is not a burden, but a blessing. from dawn to dusk to talk with you is to talk with he who illuminates noor the flowers that you so blossom during this month and celebrate this as if you’ve been given a new beginning, a restart as…
Our Story
We are thought to be invisible in history- to not voice our thoughts, and to stay at home and not be seen. We are thought to be silent- to listen and not be heard to swallow and gulp down our words of anguish beneath our tongues. But we can no longer be invisible, because we have learned to raise our voices- the meeting at Seneca Falls, and the series of protests that follows. We as women have united and will no longer be silent under abuse, to voice our thoughts and sufferings and to be set free under the wings of independence. Michelle Lin is…
Learn Hip Hop with Dyalekt!
Calling young hip-hop enthusiasts! Now's your chance to get the basics on how to drop your rhymes. Join us for two classes with educator and performer Dyalekt. On the first session Dyalekt will teach you the basics. Then on the second session you can try out what you learned! Registration required, this event holds up to 15 people. This event will be held over Zoom, registrants will be emailed a link prior to the event. Please call librarian Eric Horwitz if you have questions: (718) 398-8713. This program is brought to you by a generous grant from the Kaplan Fund. …
Silence
Silence Silent night Silent morning Silent fun Silent boring Cost me a great deal Worth the peace Quiet to observe my happiness That I alone have given to me “WHy SIlence,I want to scream!!!!!!” As I watch the souls express As they understand themselves but not others As I understand the standards of those who do not test their selves It is my silent day It is my silent moment It is my silent pleasure And my silent life that I have been enduring Silence once again…
Untitled
Pressure to make it Pressure to only succeed Winning to embrace heroic intentions But only to gain heroic attention Has the struggle not been noticed Has the tears not reflected on the surface of our face Falling down symbolizing our past failures Yet covered,yet seen through a clear glass vase Broken down to pieces Never to be seen Only in the heat of the moment What is revealed to us is the struggles we have bled and fought through in secrecy
Untitled
Can we start over And pretend to see the light So it may come to vision And see the stars align A man once loved a woman Lived his life for a cure A cure of pure simplicity And this woman has made him sure Moving too fast Forgetting his patience Caught up in a trance of love Barely noticing what has been fading Memories keeping him alive Making him saint Turning him to an angel A position to not faint