Within the library
the present and the past
predicts the future,
prose and poetry alike
is what takes us to the moon,
destroys, bring wars
and ecocide.
Days to come will mirror,
not repeat
because the human mind
with all its flaws
remains the same.
We have not changed
inside
we still are
the little flock of minds
crossing the savannah
searching for a kill
to feed a family of friends.
The poet knows,
is part of this
our failing world
our words, not perfect,
but a piece
of mistakes
and the missteps
of murder, mauling
and the mind games
of collective words.
What can we do,
but write, present
and read,
because the roots
that penetrate
through rot,
decay
will one day shoot
a sapling
that stretches boughs
and branches
thickens and grow strong
to be the future
of a nurtured
brand new tree.
The library is soil
from where our seeds may grow.
Tom Thomson
Tonight I host dVerse Open Link where we also announce our next poetry project, the Anthology Krisis. More information can be found in the post that opens the pub at 3 PM New York time, or directly on the site here.
April 10, 2025
Björn Rudbergs writings 
This is gorgeously rendered, Bjorn! 💙💙 Wow! I especially admire this part;
“The poet knows,
is part of this
our failing world
our words, not perfect,
but a piece
of mistakes
and the missteps
of murder, mauling
and the mind games
of collective words.”
I thought it woule be great to write about this already.
It’s fantastic! 😊
The library and the poet both recording history and the roots of decay while looking forward to a new day, that
“sapling
that stretches boughs
and branches
thickens and grow strong
to be the future
of a nurtured
brand new tree” —
Crisis need not after all end in disaster if the “soil” of memory remains fertile. I love this optimism, Björn. We’re sorely in need of it from our poets and librarian alike.
A crisis is also an opportunity… and this is the real meaning. We have to find that path that lead to something better….
“We have not changed
inside
we still are
the little flock of minds”
time is what gives us the opportunity to add more or less
much♡love
Yes… and maybe time is all we have…
This magnificent, Bjorn. I’m blown away by how perfect it is.
Thank you so much… it was written quickly, but these are thoughts that roll around my mind.
I sure wish I shared your hope for words, but then I don’t walk the vault of a library. Someone once said the Catholic church thinks in terms of centuries; the Lascaux librarian has a bookish dreamtime thousands of centuries long.
I think we still find gems in mideaveal tomes that could help us today…. but once everything else is fallen, we might be able to do it…
So prophetic, I feel this in my bones that we will go so far and then start again…hopefully with more wisdom to not want so much.
Oh, but between the regrowth from the soil there will a lot of fire.
I am very hopeful for the ending, despite the changes and turmoil that we are seeing. The spring season brings this new beginning, and I can only hope for a better outcome.
I fear that it will get worse before it gets better.
I hope the sapling can survive and grow strong in its ever-changing environment. The poet knows our words are not perfect in this failing world. I sometimes find the words to convey my thoughts hard to find.
I hope there will be a sapling and not just weed that suck the soil dry.
Libraries and trees are perfect metaphors, Björn. If only everyone would pay attention to what they have to tell us. I like the reference to prose and poetry taking us to the moon – I wonder if the next dVerse anthology will go there. There is so much truth in these lines:
‘The poet knows,
is part of this
our failing world
our words, not perfect’
and
‘…the roots
that penetrate
through rot,
decay
will one day shoot
a sapling’.
This might be my first submission.
Good idea. I haven’t even thought about the anthology. I’m not sure I have the energy.
This might be a Manifesto for Poets in the Current Crisis, Björn – well said…
Thank you… but we may drive it the wrong way as well… the hope is the AI models capture this and include it the language models.
That would be great…
the library of the mind? … well, that got me thinking. 🙂
Aren’t we all libraries?
HI Bjorn, I like the reference to the power of the pen you have included here. Many of us writers try to use our poetry and stories to bring awareness to situations in the great tradition of Ray Bradbury and George Orwell.
We do, and maybe we may nudge and change a little bit…
This is marvellous Bjorn. I liked your ending very much.
As an avid reader of any study about our prehistoric ancestors, I loved the description of them as
the little flock of minds
crossing the savannah
searching for a kill
to feed a family of friends
We are still hunter-gatherers in mind I believe.
I agree!
Eloquent and inspiring, Bjorn!
Thnks
Awesome and deep poem, Björn!
Love this last part:
“The library is soilfrom where our seeds may grow.”
I just hope that someone sometime may use our knowledge for something better.
Bjorn, this is such and important message that you remind us of so well! I’m excited to see there’s a new anthology. I’ll submit something once I’ve had a chance to reflect further. Thank you for being our lighthouse that has kept the dVerse hearth alive all these years!
So glad you hear that you will share… it is great to have a new anthology.
We are such imperfect human creatures….
Not really fit for the world we live in.
I love this, Björn, for its optimism, for looking ahead and of course, for the wisdom if the librarian.