Published!

Apparently, I've had a quote published in Speaking of Information: The Library Juice Quotation Book.

I can only assume that it is the same quote listed on the Library Juice website, which they pulled from an old Metafilter post: "Libraries are what churches should be."

Neat. Pity they didn't dig a little to find my full name to use for the attribution.

Irrational catalysts

Many grievances are born of an irrational catalyst; all loves are.

Not even (Dove)

You start out with one thing, end
up with another, and nothing's
like it used to be, not even the future.

Rita Dove, from "Ö"

The words of others

Speaking only with the words of others is like walking always in footprints.

The being of being (Quasimodo)

...remember that you can be the being of being
only if love should pierce you deep inside.

Salvatore Quasimodo, from "Only If Love Should Pierce You"

5th Annual Independence Day Poem

                    In Dependence

it’s easier to celebrate than to understand
particularly when you’ve had no part
in the creation or maintenance of a thing

anarchy may be the only moral form of government—
unfortunate that it produces more injustice and inequity than all others

what to do?

people are incapable of governing themselves
because governing themselves inevitably involves governing others
which is always abuse

instant ratification
of sundry agendas and appropriations

the rights of millions
can’t be sheltered from the actions of millions

what’s the use?

the complicity of bias
as inevitable as
blood

Poetry

Poetry is the enjoyment of echoes.

Sitting apart (Rumi)

What I want most
is to spring out of this personality
then to sit apart from that leaping.
I’ve lived too long where I can be reached.

Rumi