2023 Library Week Poetry Contest
Atlantic City Free Public Library - Trenton, New Jersey, United States,Work at Atlantic City Free Public Library
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If You Ask Me...
Second Place: Crystal Lee Jordan,
The Library: A Sonnet
Third Place: Susan Cavanaugh,
Mine
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If you ask me,A labyrinth of books hold secrets beyond.Between the cracks and shelves aligned,Are whispering spirits of characters who’ve come and gone.Through books, we find ourselves deep within our mind,When we want to leave our reality behind -To fantastical places where our devices can’t take us.A good book stays forever timelessWherever, whenever, howsoever.If you ask me,Time travel is real.But you have to keep it among us. Do we have a deal?A glimpse at a book is looking into the pastWith words that will exist for however long it lasts.The text on a page shows us all what we can beWhen we learn from authors who have lived already.A good book stays forever timelessWherever, whenever, howsoever.If you ask me,With a public library,Comes the chance for opportunity.There’s more to our storyThan what meets the eye.Julie Tran was born and raised in Atlantic City and often visited the library as a teen. During her free time, Julie enjoys creating art and reading YA fiction novels. Art is her personal form of self expression and wants to share a part of her to the world.Crystal Lee Jordan
------The Library
The Library is so full of knowledge.It is where we can do so many things.Maybe one needs to study for college,Or find information on wordly kings.There is a friend of mine, learned about crafts,Then another, all about sailing the seas.Some may say it's all outdated you know.They say the internet is for today.Often on it, enjoying where they go,Relaxing or searching for games to play.Yet, books, computers, movies, mags and more.The local library, enter the door.Crystal Lee Jordan, an Atlantic City resident, was born and raised in Newark NJ. As a child she enjoyed many church bus rides to Atlantic City in the sixties. She has now gladly made Atlantic City her home. Crystal Lee enjoys writing and interior decorating.Susan Cavanaugh
------Mine
My siblings wanted, and got, more.More Gilligan’s Island, Leave It To Beaver,Lost in Space, while I, big sister, kept silentmy dismay at what reading was in that house—scandal sheets, TV Guide, People, a setof encyclopedias thirty years past its prime.Nothing I was looking for. On the TV stand,an Albanian grammar I was told to leavealone. “You don’t need that,” said my Nana,who tolerated popcorn kernels in the cushionsand my eating pickles from the jar at midnight,which made her laugh. And so I let it go, gave into her pride in her English, Albanian a languageshe wanted to leave behind. The librariesof my American voice lay ahead of me—primary school, middle school, hometown, county,where I would be invited to come right in,check it out, return it when due, or call to renewif more time needed. In silence, I learned to keep listsof fictions, history, plays, cookbooks, biographies,vowing to read it all, all of it available, all of it, mine.Susan Cavanaugh retired in 2020 from a career in health insurance, where she advocated for health care reform. Her recent poems appear in Exit 13 and NJ Bards Poetry Review. She has work forthcoming in Wild Librarian Press’s 2023 anthology, and Beach Badge magazine. Cavanaugh lives in Northfield, NJ.Last Updated:
May 2, 2023 12:15 PMURL:
https://acfpl.libguides.com/c.php?g=1271329
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