I have been visiting the library in my town for over 54 years! My weekly visits began when I was in Kindergarten and lasted until I left home for college. Several years later, I moved back to the town where I grew up and began bringing my own children to Story Hour. Now I’m honored to serve on the Board of Trustees, which is truly a labor of love.
A major renovation to the Children’s library was recently completed, and we’ll soon be celebrating with a ribbon cutting ceremony. What would a library celebration be without a poem? We invited the children at the elementary school next door to write a “My Library” acrostic. Once we have all the poems, we’re going to choose lines to create a crowdsourced poem, similar to Kwame Alexander and NPR’s “Where I’m From” project. To give the kids a springboard, I wrote my own version. The kid’s poems aren’t finished yet, but here’s my version of “My Library.”
My Library
Magical books for
Young readers to share.
Long-ago tales
Invite readers to dream.
Books about planets,
Rhinos, and more
Await curious minds.
Ready when you are,
Your imagination’s the limit!
© Catherine Flynn, 2019
Please be sure to visit Karen Edmisten for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
What a fun project. And I love your strong ties to your library. Just beautiful!
LikeLike
Sounds like a wonderful writing prompt, and I love your poem, and the old photo image is so inviting… have fun building the poem, thanks Catherine!
LikeLike
This picture is priceless — as are libraries! I loved reading about your long history with the library and your continued ties. I also love your poem. Acrostics can be tricky and this one reads so naturally –and fits the occasion perfectly! I hope you’ll share your final crowdsourced product. What fun!
LikeLike
Catherine, libraries are the best and I am so glad that you have decided to serve your community with such a prestigious position. Your project is going to be a wonderful contribution to your community so thanks for sharing your poem to kick it off. Your imagination’s the limit!- I love the photo.
LikeLike
A wonderful project and a wonderful mentor poem, Catherine. I hope we’ll get to read some of the kids’ poems when they’re done, in addition to the crowdsourced poem. And BTW, I had you pegged in the photo before I even read which one was you! 🙂
LikeLike
Your library project sounds wonderful Catherine. I’ll be looking forward to reading about the final results. I don’t envy you choosing what lines to include! I don’t even remember what my library looked like when I was a child. I only remember my school library. How thankful I was for it!
LikeLike
Great idea to do a crowd-sourced poem. Love that you’ve been such a loyal longtime library patron. Love the old photo and your acrostic. 🙂
LikeLike
Sweet photo! I love that you are making poetry part of the celebrations.
LikeLike
Soooooo cool that you have that photo! So amazed that you have time to be on your local library BoT!!
So excited to see what the acrostics will bring!!! So amused by “planets and rhinos and more”!!!!
LikeLike
What a lovely library acrostic, Catherine.
LikeLike
I love that you are still in your hometown and supporting the library on the board. We have a wonderful library program in our town, but I’ve never gotten involved. This is going to be a great project. What a way to get poetry involved with kids and the library.
LikeLike
I love that you have such a long history with your library. The crowd-sourced poem is a perfect way to celebrate the new children’s area. We’ve moved several times, and the library is one of the first places I explore.
LikeLike
Sigh! I love the library! Thanks for a sweet post. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
LikeLike
Hooray for libraries! I love that your journey has come full circle to leadership!
LikeLike
Love that the same library has been a part of your life for so long–and that you’re getting kids involved in writing for the celebration!
LikeLike
A library is a requirement for me. I’m so glad you have strong ties to yours, and that you have a celebration ahead. The poem idea is perfect! I hope it goes well.
LikeLike