Leaves of Bark

ELENA MARTÍN VIVALDI (1907 - 1997) Granada

Entre ti, soledad, me busco y muero,
en ti, mi soledad, mi vida sigo,
vencida por tus brazos voy contigo
y allí te aguardo donde ya no quiero.

See: Biografia of Elena Martín Vivaldi.

From Wikipedia:

Elena Martín Vivaldi, fue poeta. En tanto que mujer que escribía poesía, prefería la palabra ‘poeta’ para referirse a ella. Es difícil, dejó escrito, decir qué se escribe y cómo; sus técnicas, motivos, temas, etc.

"Pues habría, para exponer todo el proceso de creación, que detenerse y explicar cada uno de los poemas. Ya que cada poema es un mundo distinto y requiere una manera y una técnica diferentes. Además, todo poema depende, con frecuencia, del estado de ánimo, de cómo ve el poeta, en un determinado momento, el paisaje, íntimo o exterior, de cada una de sus vivencias."

Paul Lawrence Dunbar at Library of Congress

The Poetry Foundation's very cool "Washington DC Poetry Tour" reveals that Paul Lawrence Dunbar worked in the stacks at the Library of Congress and was the 1st poet - black or white -- to give a public reading at the LOC. (As a side note, the PF says Dunbar hated the job down in the stacks)

Nearing 50 Living Library Poets

In less than two months the Leaves of Bark blog has identified almost 50 living library poets around the world: 28 in the US, and 14 from various nations., including Namibia, Scotland, France, England, the Czech Republic, and Canada.

Thanks to everyone who has sent poems and biographical information. Keep on spreading the word and remember, we have a Contemporary Library Poetry page to highlight the poems of library-poets if you want to send us a sample or two.

Bon Voyage with Leaves of Bark!

Welcome to Leaves of Bark, where we document the nexus between poetry  (the spoken and written word) and librarianship (the keepers of libers, of books, of bark). Both poet and librarian are essentially scribblers on bark (even if our bark is now comprised of electronitc bits and bytes)

Throughout history some of our greatest poets have been librarians, and some of our best librarians have been poets. Such creators have found inspiration in the brilliant catacombs of library stacks...and maybe you are one?

We have a page for famous Dead Poet Librarians of the Past, and a growing list for both US and International Living Library Poets.