April is National Poetry month and the Bolinas Library is highlighting and displaying part of its local poetry collection. The Bolinas Library has over 100 volumes of poetry written by local poets both past and present. Offered here is a poem by Joanne Kyger, a long time Bolinas resident and avid library user. Joanne has published more than twenty collections of poetry as well as several books of prose. This poem, Night Palace, is from About Now: Collected Poems (2007), p. 760.

                                                             NIGHT PALACE

                                     The best thing about the past

                                                                                 is that it's over

                                                                  when you die

                                                   you wake up

                                      from the dream

                                                                                    that's your life!

                                 Then you grow up

                                                          and get to be post human

                                                      in a past        that keeps happening

                                             ahead of you

Joanne Kyger

    
For further explorations in poetry, look at Poetry Foundation and The Academy of American Poets. Poets.org offers a free poem a day emailed directly to you. It's a great way to take a deep breath and slow down once a day.