Library
In the spirit of Tell Arlington's Story - Arlington County's initiative to gather stories that demonstrate Arlington's rich cultural diversity - the Shirlington Poetry Workshop has challenged writers to create new poems about Arlington.
Check out one of the great resulting poems below. This one was written by workshop attender Mark Powell. Other poems will be posted here on the blog as well.
The next meeting of the Poetry Workshop is next Monday, Oct. 24, 7:00 p.m. at the Shirlington Branch Library, and all are welcome.
- Telling Arlington's Story In Verse, Part 2
Telling Arlington's StoryIn the spirit of Tell Arlington's Story - Arlington County's initiative to gather stories that demonstrate Arlington's rich cultural diversity - the Shirlington Poetry Workshop has challenged writers to create...
- Can You Tell Arlington's Story In Verse? October Poetry Workshop
Want to try your hand at writing poetry, or meet other local poets? All poets and potential poets are invited to check out the Shirlington Poetry Workshop, held on the 4th Monday of each month at the Shirlington Branch Library. This fall's...
- Telling Arlington Stories: Third And Fourth Generation African American Arlingtonians Share Their Family Histories And Their Personal Stories
As part of this year's County Board initiative "Telling Arlington Stories," Cultural Affairs, the Arlington Association of University Women and the Library will host a history discussion called "Telling Arlington Stories: Third and Fourth Generation...
- Donate To The Afac Holiday Food Drive
During this holiday season, the Library is assisting the Arlington Food Assistance Center in its efforts to gather donated food for Arlington residents in need. AFAC supplements the groceries of 1200 Arlington families each week - approximately 3000 people,...
- Walkabout Crystal City With The "good Morning, Vietnam!" Guy
Are you new to South Arlington and the Aurora Hills Branch Library? Here's a great way to get to know one of your neighborhoods. Adrian Cronauer - the Air Force Sargent portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam! - has been...
Library
Telling Arlington's Story in Verse, part 1
 |
| Telling Arlington's Story |
Check out one of the great resulting poems below. This one was written by workshop attender Mark Powell. Other poems will be posted here on the blog as well.
The next meeting of the Poetry Workshop is next Monday, Oct. 24, 7:00 p.m. at the Shirlington Branch Library, and all are welcome.
The world over, in our area too
Are places of sharp division in little space,
Yea even across a clear single line.
Places of bifurcation, dichotomy.
Half Street in south DC
Glebe Road between Beverly Hills and Arlandria
And Shirlington. Between the ?villages??s affluence, ease, prettiness
And much harder scrabble
Ranging honorable blue collars to illegal presence and desperation.
Two peoples, overlapping, interacting little
Two environments
Separated by a little river
A dry-times ankle-splash, in rains a brief torrent
Some trees and trail
And, like most any other such stretch
Lots of trash that shouldn?t be there.
The better of daily walkers peck at it
Occasional groups bite more largely of it
But it never disappears.
In these score-odd acres on both sides are two Americas.
The library contrasts, in some, illiteracy
(In English if not their own languages)
Harris Teeter, the food bank
The nice shops, the used-tire place
WETA, the Weenie Beenie
But these contrasts do not define most important human ones.
Good and bad populate both sides.
On both are people who should be on the other
Either to enjoy the fruits or toil or wander in the grittiness.
In places far and mutually unknown
And ones immediate and quasi-strangers,
People are what they do and believe
Not where they are, work, shop, play, sleep.
And all in all this division
Shows a great, maybe uniquely American good:
For you see, there is no gunfire
Not even rock-throwing across the Run
Our footbridge is not the Bridge at Mostar
The peoples and their dogs meet in the park.
America, at least in ideal, is not about equal outcomes, but opportunities
Making movement across the lines in all Shirlingtons free.
- Telling Arlington's Story In Verse, Part 2
Telling Arlington's StoryIn the spirit of Tell Arlington's Story - Arlington County's initiative to gather stories that demonstrate Arlington's rich cultural diversity - the Shirlington Poetry Workshop has challenged writers to create...
- Can You Tell Arlington's Story In Verse? October Poetry Workshop
Want to try your hand at writing poetry, or meet other local poets? All poets and potential poets are invited to check out the Shirlington Poetry Workshop, held on the 4th Monday of each month at the Shirlington Branch Library. This fall's...
- Telling Arlington Stories: Third And Fourth Generation African American Arlingtonians Share Their Family Histories And Their Personal Stories
As part of this year's County Board initiative "Telling Arlington Stories," Cultural Affairs, the Arlington Association of University Women and the Library will host a history discussion called "Telling Arlington Stories: Third and Fourth Generation...
- Donate To The Afac Holiday Food Drive
During this holiday season, the Library is assisting the Arlington Food Assistance Center in its efforts to gather donated food for Arlington residents in need. AFAC supplements the groceries of 1200 Arlington families each week - approximately 3000 people,...
- Walkabout Crystal City With The "good Morning, Vietnam!" Guy
Are you new to South Arlington and the Aurora Hills Branch Library? Here's a great way to get to know one of your neighborhoods. Adrian Cronauer - the Air Force Sargent portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam! - has been...