Open Biblioteek Amsterdam

 

Tired Traveler's Feet
Step by Step
Beat by Beat
Touring a City
Packing Days Full
(in between sleeps)

&&&

Prostitutes tapping on glass
Canal Boats pushing water
    woosh as they pass

The smell of French Fries or

    waffles or some sort of food

All of this is the Amsterdam mood

Plus art

    Plus architecture

        Plus human design

A human scale city

Relaxes my mind

New Orleans Public Library

 

Shuttin' Down

Due to Rain

That's Okay

So's My Brain

One Whole Day

Down the Drain

Beni Khaddesh Library

Roadblocks, hurdles, language barrier
Thwarteed requests or something scarier
What do I do when smiling breaks down
Do I display my internal frown?
Tunisia's thrown flags on every play
Tollroad or detour or wrong way

&&&

Medinine (Regional?) Library

Silently swirling
Mixing with student
Their homework math
This poem my own

Bibliotheque National Tunis

Pushing and shoving and
Massive line cutting
"Knowing" your needs better than you
Dirty streets (with delicious eats)
And yelling nonstop
Is just how these Arabs do

Library of Alexandria

Busy road, busy day
From Cairo we raced away
Alexandria at the end
Merely for this poem to pen

Greater Cairo Public Library

I wish I had some gum right now
On which I could be chewing
A small distraction for my mouth
While my mind is brewing
My focus now: a million things
Wants and needs be done
Mastication might slow me down
And allow a moment's fun

Library near Rainbow Road

A shovel full of hummus
And olives bowl by bowl
If I’m not careful
I won’t walk; I’ll roll

Fifty dinars postage
What a dumb thing to do
There’s a dozen cheaper ways
To send fifty “I love you”s

Library near Hashemite Square

Hustle and Bustle
No rest for thee
We must keep moving
There’re ruins to see

Dirty Dingy Dusty Jordan
What an increase in mental load
To wonder what new horror awaits
When next I visit the commode

---

One of the greatest sights so far
A desert night and lots of stars
The moon throwing me a crescent smile
And Saturn, Jupiter, Venus in single file
With that sight a pleasant sound
Silence! By God, there’s no one around

Batumi, Briefly

Braindead in Batumi
Functions depressed
Struggle each morning
Just to get dressed

Half hungry half tired
Unsure of my needs
Brain dredges up
Forgotten misdeeds

Avetik Isahakyan Central Library

Staring ahead, mind’s dead
Paper’s blank, motive’s sank
Can’t think, spill no ink
Soldier through, a word or two
Fill the page, fight the rage
Don’t be mad, yes it’s bad
But what was missed, now exists

National Library of Armenia

A splash of inspiration
Momentarily sparked
By surprise appearance
A statue of Marx

To his right: Engles
Or I think that’s his bust
As that’s the direction
My mind’s been thrust

As opposed to Tblilisi
And librarians foul
While here’s a bit sterile
There’s nary a scowl

Tbilisi's Angry Librarians

Hate-filled, Hurtful
Library Lady
I'm just here to write
Not anything shady

I'm the odd one out
I stand out
Of the gathered four
I'm writing on paper
Not reading newspaper
Thereby scrutinized more

Tbilisi Metro Library

Sleep all day
Drink all night
Give in to glut
Without a fight

Keep an owl's hours
Waste the light
Bum 'round reddit
Dare not write

Stay in bed
See no sight
Contrary to wisdom
That's what's right

Definitely continue
A fool's delight
And sleep all day
And drink all night

&&&

Seventy five words
Four fifty characters
Is it enough
to push out a story?

Flash fiction, sure
Nano, micro, constrained
What foundation
Does it create?

Pursuit of attention
Desire of desire
Can I fill
Whatever hole exists?

Georgia National Library

Sweaty Day
Access Denied
Wanna See
What's Inside
Write a Poem
Cool Down a Bit
There's No Need
For this Shit
Found a Bench
Spilled some Ink
Museum Next
Is What I Think

Bali Library

Fun Fact: Not a Library

My gum is sandy
My luck's run out

The library's moved
The plan's in doubt

A smiling face
and snapper soup
I've been thrown
For quite a loop!

Yogyakarta Library

Little Girl
Little Kittens
Just across from
Where I'm sittin'
Eatin' chicken
Drinkin' tea
Shopkeep wants to
Marry me

Jakarta Local Library

Terima Kasih

Those magic words
Can open doors
Wherever they're heard

Confusion and smiles
After traveling miles
Though well guarded
Also well regarded

&

Time to push
Time to go
Another museum
Then one mo'

Byron Bay Library

Remember how to write a poem

Remember how to sit alone

Remember how to rhyme a line

Remember how to take your time

&

Critical Convo
on reading and writing
Changing the world
Thinking is fighting

Ride's over
Now we're here
Time for coffee
Then for beer

National Library of Indonesia

Elevator
To the top
Our dismay
As it stops
There's no way
We'll go far
With twenty people
In the car

The national monument
Looks insignificant
From the Library's twenty fourth floor
With that point of view
Imagine what we'd do
If only we valued books more