Get your Random Acts of Poetry Here!

"April showers bring May flowers." "April is the cruellest month." "April is a promise that May is bound to keep." Poor April, condemned merely to be the dour waiting maid of May! Seems like she deserves better - after all, she has inspired so many lyrical musings. Fitting, then, that since 1996, April has also been honored with the title National Poetry Month. Better still, she was not honored thusly by some cold-hearted governmental body or stiffly starched academia, but by those tireless romantics, the poets themselves - namely, The Academy of American Poets.

Why a "National Poetry Month?" I'll quote from the source (the Academy of American Poets, that is):

The concept was to increase the attention paid-by individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our poetic heritage, and to poetry books and magazines. In the end, we hoped to achieve an increase in the visibility, presence, and accessibility of poetry in our culture. National Poetry Month has been successful beyond all anticipation and has grown over the years into the largest literary celebration in the world.

Really, why not a National Poetry Month? There was a time when children memorized dozens of poems in school, when adults read poems to each other as entertainment, when noblemen patronized poets in the hopes that their already-famous names might be attached to a particular stellar work of art. Poetry was as hip as hip hop is today - so when did it become a fussy remnant of the past? Truly, if one takes the time to look, there's a poem for everyone. Some may still prefer one of Shakespeare's perfectly symmetrical sonnets, others may delight in the glorious natural imagery of the Old Testament Book of Psalms. On the other hand, the oh-so-clever rhymes and brutal honesty of Eminem's works may be the only poetry another listener has ever experienced and that's just fine. A school-aged child may giggle at the nonsensical verse of Dr. Seuss, while the lifelong learner continues to find deep meaning in classic poets such as W.B Yeats, T.S Eliot, W.H. Auden, W.S. Merwin - wait a minute, aren't there any poets with first names?

Kidding - just trying to see if you were still paying attention. I named those particular poets because they are amongst my favorites, but I consider myself lucky: I've been a big fan of poetry for many years. I love a sonnet, love an elegant snapshot of life captured in uncanny detail, love a poem that's edgy and exotic. Being a musician, there are few things I appreciate more than a great, poetic lyric wedded to an extraordinary melody. Some of my favorite poems? "Listen" by Merwin, "The Beautiful Changes" by Richard Wilbur, "Easter 1916" and "Sailing to Byzantium" by Yeats (the latter recently quoted in a popular movie title - know which one it is?), "Musee des Beaux Arts" by Auden, and so many songs I couldn't attempt to list them here. Songwriters who consistently hit a poetic mark, in my opinion, include Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Sting, Justin Currie and Kate Bush. Do you have a favorite poem or poetic song lyric? Click on the "Comments" link and post your favorites here to share them with all of our readers. (Remember - you can always post anonymously, or sign up for a free Blogger account.)

Now - I promised you some Random Acts of Poetry. Beginning on Tuesday, April 1, 2008, you'll find a number of ways to experience "Random Acts of Poetry" at the Des Plaines Public Library. Let's just say that quotes from poems will pop up in unexpected places, giving you a poetic interlude in the middle of an otherwise typical day. You'll find these Random Acts in the library building and on our Web site, thanks to Adult Services Librarian Steven Giese. Our hope? That National Poetry Month inspires you with the power, creativity and beauty of words, not just for a month, but for a lifetime. Want to browse through our collection of poetry books and related materials? Click on this link and look for something that strikes your fancy. We not only have poetry in English for children and adults, but a wide variety of poetry books in other languages, too.

Oh, yes - "April Showers Bring May Flowers" seems to be derived from an original quote by one Thomas Tusser, written in 1557! "April is the cruellest month" sprang from the mind of T.S. Eliot and into his masterpiece, "The Waste Land." And "April is a promise that May is bound to keep" is from Hal Borland's book, "The Sundial of the Seasons."

Happy Earth Hour, Des Plaines!

Now shut down the computer, turn off the lights and make a statement about conserving energy and protecting the Earth!

Countdown to Earth Hour!

Did you know that this coming Saturday, March 29, 2008, from 8:00-9:00 p.m. (note: time has changed from 7 to 8 p.m.), a very special global event called "Earth Hour" will be taking place? Did you know that the city of Des Plaines has chosen to take an active role in this event, along with Chicago, one of the featured major cities, and many of our neighboring suburbs?

What is Earth Hour? For one hour on a given night, participating businesses, homes and public spaces turn off all non-essential lighting. The first Earth Hour was held in Sydney, Australia in 2007. "Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switched off, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city." Even one hour of reducing energy usage can make a tremendous impact, as coal-fired electricity is one of the worst contributors to global climate change. But beyond the impact of saving energy for a 60 minute time span, the organizers of Earth Hour want the event to raise awareness of environmental issues and how much our day-to-day activities - things we take for granted - drain the world of precious natural resources.

The Des Plaines Public Library will be participating in Earth Hour by making sure as many lights as possible are turned off this Saturday night, March 29. Honestly, and if I may boast a little bit about my coworkers, we are doing a lot more than that to protect the environment and inform people about making sound eco-choices.

Very soon, thanks to our generous Friends of the Library and persistent efforts by staff and our library users, we will be offering inexpensive, resuable, recyclable bags for sale, to help stop the tidal wave of plastic bags that is choking the Earth with trash. We hope you've already noticed and maybe even used the container in our atrium where you can place plastic bags for recycling. Yes, they really are recycled - we take them to the Jewel food store at 1555 S. Lee Street in Des Plaines. Jewel processes them through their Melrose Park facility and sends them on to a company called Trex, which makes composite lumber from the old bags. We want to thank Albertson's/Jewel/Supervalu, and specifically, Environmental Stewardship employee Tom McIntyre, for assisting us with bag recycling. We also thank our Security monitors, who do the work of sorting the bags - plastic library bags that are still in good condition are reused, rather than recycled.

We have lots of special programs coming up in April to honor Earth Day - click on this link to find them on our April Events calendar. During the month of April, the library also has a special "It's Easy Bein' Green" online video to share with you and we'll roll out a new section of green resources on our Web site.

But don't forget - you can participate in Earth Hour this Saturday, too. Turn off the lights at home - some folks are going even farther and turning off the TV, DVD player, computer and other non-essential appliances. Light some candles and play a board game with your family. Go for a walk outside with your sweetie. Meditate, pray, have a candlelit meal. To learn about how big corporations, families and individuals are planning to make a statement during Earth Hour, check out this article from the Daily Herald. Des Plaines city officials are encouraging residents to take part in Earth Hour, and lights in municipal buildings will be turned off this Saturday from 8:00-9:00 p.m.

So mark your calendar for Earth Hour this Saturday and do your part in making sure that the splendors of our natural world and its abundant resources thrive and survive for future generations.