“Poetry Through the Looking Glass” at the Library

A class in poetry will be offered Tuesday afternoons at the Public Library starting next Tuesday and running through November.

“Poetry Through The Looking-Glass” will be faciltated by JoEllen Moldoff from 1 to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays starting Oct. 5.

Moldoff says, “Poetry is for everyone.  William Carlos Williams wrote: ‘It is difficult to get the news from poems, but men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.’

“In this class we will explore the vast landscape of contemporary poetry, sharing our perspectives as readers and writers. The focus will be on experiencing the poems, as well as understanding how they work.  Writing prompts/assignments will be offered for those wishing to write.  All are welcome to join in the conversation.”

The fee is $15 for library registration, copying costs and donation to the Library. Register at the Library.

A New Poet

Linda Pastan

Finding a new poet
is like finding a new wildflower
out in the woods. You don’t see

its name in the flower books, and
nobody you tell believes
in its odd color or the way

its leaves grow in splayed rows
down the whole length of the page. In fact
the very page smells of spilled

red wine and the mustiness of the sea
on a foggy day—the odor of truth
and of lying.

And the words are so familiar,
so strangely new, words
you almost wrote yourself, if only

in your dreams there had been a pencil
or a pen or even a paintbrush,
if only there had been a flower.