Enjoy the poem below celebrating libraries from Wisconsin's current Poet Laureate by Dasha Kelly Hamilton. We have books by all the state Poets Laureate in our fantastic smALL Press Library on the Ellen Kort Mezzanine named after Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate. Celebrate poetry, libraries, and Wisconsin by stopping by the smALL Press Library today!
The Library
by Dasha Kelly Hamilton
Bend pages at the corner
Folding into the stories
We tell about ourselves
About each other
About days dissolved
and seasons yet to come
Circulate riches to every spirit and spine
Stack rhyme schemes and prophecy
Humanity and hypotheses
Guard our stories, stretching from soil to sky
Common and crown, ground level to grand heights
And all of our mass in the middle
Mass, in the middle
The accumulated weight of all our question marks
Our catalog of anxious cells and eager breaths
Warm the hallways, the portals and platforms
Ignite hope along dim landscapes
Archive the shine of our collective living
Our electric resistance to darkness
Books and Chapbooks by Wisconsin Poets Laureate in the smALL Press Library
Ellen Kort (2000-2004)
Books:
Chapbooks:*
- Bear
- Between Earth and Sky
- If Death Were a Woman
- Letter from McCarty’s Farm
- Notes from a Small Island
- Uncle Jake
- Sing Back My Bones
- There Is Something Ancient Here
Denise Sweet (2004-2008)
Books:
Marilyn L. Taylor (2008-2010)
Books:
Chapbooks:
- Going Wrong
- Step on a Crack
- Greatest Hits: 1986-2000
Bruce Dethlefsen (2011-2012)
Books:
Chapbooks:
- A Decent Reed
- Something Near the Dance Floor
Max Garland (2013-2014)
Books:
Chapbooks:
- Apparition
Kimberly Blaeser (2015-2016)
Books:
Chapbooks:
- After Words
Karla Huston (2017-2020)
Books:
Chapbooks:
- An Inventory of Lost things
- Catch and Release
- Greif Bone
- Outside of a Dog
- Pencil Test
Margaret Rozga (2019-2020)
Books:
Dasha Kelly Hamilton (2021-2022)
Books:
*Please note: Chapbooks are available for browsing in our library, but not available for checkout