Another budget cut would put an end to the old library. The aged librarian could not keep up with dust-moths, and with more silverfish than book-worms, unread pages kept disappearing.

With no one coming to read, who can utter the poignance of all that is?

Constantly threatened, invaded, expended by ignorance, who would have expected that the library would be saved by poetry?

To put words into verse had been viewed as nerdy and even archaic, until the young poetess came to the library one day for a reference book on verse.

She spent more time with the librarian than studying and she shared her dream of open-mic sessions among the books.

They discussed, not only rhymes, but reason even more.

The next Saturday was the first session …

… and from week to week success grew, saving not just the library but town itself.

Today Sanaa hosts Prosery with a promptline that says:

“Who can utter the poignance of all that is constantly threatened, invaded, expended”

from the poem “In California: Morning, Evening, Late January” by Denise Levertov. As usual I have tried to hide the line as well as I can by breaking it up.

November 9, 2026