When every library
is filled, will poets
be librarians?
Will we take care
to not create?
If every verse exists,
should we let pens
run dry, or
should we turn
our rage on books
and burn them,
so songs may rise
renewed from ash?
Linked to dVerse where De hosts the Quadrille with the word fill. Join us.
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February 10, 2020
Running in the slow lane
The view from here ... Or here!
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” — Albert Einstein
chronicling my quarter life crisis
Now we see through a glass, darkly
rejuvenatement - not retirement
words and scribble.
The Quantumverse
Poetry, haiku. Life, word play, puns, free verse
About fantastical places and other stuff
Björn Rudbergs writings 
WOW. This is powerful stuff, B. Is there anything new to write? And if not, shall we burn it all down and start again? These are valid questions.
In other news, I might quite like to become a librarian. Pedaling what already IS, instead of feeling the pull to be/make more…
Sometimes I wonder too… but at least our words on the blog will not fill any space.
Bang on post
I believe that even when books are burnt, their souls live on. Someone somewhere remembers a phrase, a line, or even a paragraph, and that’s enough for the phoenix, Björn. Some of the best poets are librarians: Philip Larking, Audre Lorde and Jorge Luis Borges, to name a few. Have you read the poem ‘The Beautiful Librarians’ by Sean O’Brien? Here’s a link: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/16/the-beautiful-librarians-by-sean-o-brien-poem-of-the-week
I think the defunding of libraries is a kind of book-burning.
I read today that the Trump administration is doing that in the US. It’s already started here. The Norfolk library service is trying to encourage people to volunteer in libraries. I’m being interviewed on Wednesday about why I volunteer; they’re sending a photographer to take pictures for posters and social media,.
Completely agree…
Fire Sale….burn it all down and start all over. I personally prefer to heap words on top of words until they fill the libraries with words, to overflowing. Defunding the libraries is a type of book burning as you so aptly pointed out. All kinds of things are being burned nowadays by the Orange Monster in Washington. Time to fight fire with fire.
I´m the ” top dog” of librarians, I´m in the one…
The Nazis and puritans burned books, as did the Huns. Libraries are digital now, so fire cannot erase literature. Besides poetry is expansive, not finite. I love your poem, but rail against the premise. A pox on fahrenheit 451.
Anyone interested in learning about the history of libraries, book burning, etc. is encouraged to read an excellent, “The Library Book,” by Susan Orlean. About your poem, Bjorn. I look at the library as a metaphor for a mind. Can a mind be filled to the brim with ideas to a point where they are burned to make room for new ones? One school of thought is in order to make room for more, examine the existing ones and if they serve no purpose, toss them. The ideal is a cup of tea that never spills over.
Those last few lines sent a little shiver down my back.
Some of my best days have been spent in a library. I don’t think there will ever be too many words, and pens will never run dry. There should always be more. 🙂
Oh no no no, i would not burn the books, i would build more shelves waiting for them to be filled
Happy Monday Björn
Much💝love
I hope we will never believed that we have written and done it all. Burn them books, so new ones will rise.
I like the thought of the songs rising from ash.
This brought to mind “The Book Thief” (2013 by Markus Zusak) which is a book about a young girl who stole books from Nazi book burnings during WW-II. As always, a thoughtful and evocative write, Bjorn.
Great words. I also like the idea of songs rising from ash of books.
Pens will never run dry. And if so, crayons!
Like De said… WOW!
This one’s a thinker.
This is thought provoking. It reminds me of something I wrote for a Carrot Ranch flash fiction challenge when newly inaugurated T*%^&$ cut funds to the arts, etc.
If you have time for 198 words you might see the strength of the poet in those two flashes.
https://shiftnshake.wordpress.com/feedings/
A beautiful entry and great thoughts in the comments. You have touched a nerve 💙Well done!
hmm, if the books are burned would a phoenix rise with a stronger message? I hope we always have libraries filled with books. There is nothing like the smell and feel of an old book.
Wow! This was some thought provoking poem! But would burning what has already been said, erase its existence? Every word written or spoken, hangs in the air…somewhere…I guess 🙂
Better to fertilise with the rich compost of words than the sadness of ash.
These days where everything is online , printed books are losing the race.
Blogdom will never be full unless they take it all away. And I still make hard copies because I just don’t trust the machine. I always wanted to be a librarian. It wouldn’t even be work!
This is so thought provoking Bjorn.
Libraries are a sacred gem of humanity. When we lose libraries, books, fiction/poetry/history/science….all the genres of our being, then we’ve lost our soul.
The image of burning books is a frightening one….and very sadly, one that has happened and will happen again. The idea of these ashes rising again, as a phoenix, is a powerful one.
kaykuala
What a choice to make which may invoke regret later!
Hank
every poem is different it will never come to burning books!
Wow! A thought provoking poem. A new perspective. 🙂
Sad to think of libraries not existing–and as people have pointed out above the past atrocities and the current willingness to censor–but I think they would rise from the ash. I think it is within us to create. At the same time, I don’t think a library, physical or not, could ever be entirely filled.
Superb article, man!! you are really included a real advance area of knowledge I expect for may days. Hope you more article on it creates & let us to see.