Part One - Spending the Day at the Upper Moreland Public Library - Poem: Sitting in the Howling Winds Eating an Apple

Old photo of the library taken by me.

Before I left home for the library, I packed food for this person w diabetes. From 10 to 11 am, I attended a Focus Group about Seniors. Donna, the moderator, asked us a no. of questions including how many times we visit the library.

I'm there about four or five times a week. Since I live alone, I said, I like the nice personalities of the folks who work there. Amber, Linda Jones, Sara, Cathy G and Margie, the director.

The group of about ten people came up with suggestions. All were eager to talk.  Sorry, can't find the backspace. Too dark in the living room.

Lower the cost of returning DVDs, which is a dollar a day.



Scott and I just finished watching this film. Great acting as two lovers and adventurers attempt to sail a boat from Tahiti, where they met, to Hawaii.

A good suggestion was to put in a SLOW sign and a crosswalk when you cross the street from the library to the shopping district across the street, including Barnes and Nobel and Hair Cuttery.

The entrance to the library is one way only. I suggested making it two ways.

After the discussion group, as I had planned, I sat in the room and continued to read SHELTER, a book I disliked from our Reading Group, but wanted to finish bc of a few comments about the ending.

Meantime, Cathy G was readying the room for "Just Writers" who would have a reading there beginning at one.

As I sat reading Shelter by Jung Yun, my eyes began to close, just like at home. View her website here. This absorbing, suspenseful début tracks familial obligation and the legacy of trauma in a Korean family.

I figgered I oughta go outside and eat an apple.

The winds were blowing everything in sight as I sat down on a cold piece of concrete and pulled out my apple. I polished it on my lavender colored jacket.

I rarely eat a whole apple, usually cutting it up in salads. Biting inside, I was surprised at the strength of my teeth. Oh-oh, I think I feel a poem coming on.

SITTING IN THE HOWLING WINDS
EATING AN APPLE

It had been years since I sank my teeth
into a nice juicy apple.

How good it tasted, the bright red skin
concealing finely compacted flesh

where juice was released finally,
to delight, in this case, me,

Sucking, and biting, I made sure it
was symmetrical as a sculpture.

When I finished,
wiping my chin with a hanky

I presented it as a gift to the soil
kneeling down to toss it

under a small umbrella of a
prickly juniper bush.



BTW, just watched the classic film THE ELEPHANT MAN, 1980. At first didn't wanna watch b/c it's so painful. Enjoyed it immensely.

Patrick Stoner said it took about 5 hrs to put make-up on John Hurt. It was extremely painful.