The Atlantic City Free Public Library
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If you ask me,
A labyrinth of books hold secrets beyond.
Between the cracks and shelves aligned,
Are whispering spirits of characters who’ve come and gone.
Through books, we find ourselves deep within our mind,
When we want to leave our reality behind -
To fantastical places where our devices can’t take us.
A good book stays forever timeless
Wherever, whenever, howsoever.
If you ask me,
Time travel is real.
But you have to keep it among us. Do we have a deal?
A glimpse at a book is looking into the past
With words that will exist for however long it lasts.
The text on a page shows us all what we can be
When we learn from authors who have lived already.
A good book stays forever timeless
Wherever, whenever, howsoever.
If you ask me,
With a public library,
Comes the chance for opportunity.
There’s more to our story
Than what meets the eye.
Julie Tran was born and raised in Atlantic City and often visited the library as a teen. During her free time, Julie enjoys creating art and reading YA fiction novels. Art is her personal form of self expression and wants to share a part of her to the world.
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The Library is so full of knowledge.
It is where we can do so many things.
Maybe one needs to study for college,
Or find information on wordly kings.
Remembering how I enjoyed making crafts.
Even discovering new recipes.
There is a friend of mine, learned about crafts,
Then another, all about sailing the seas.
Some may say it's all outdated you know.
They say the internet is for today.
Often on it, enjoying where they go,
Relaxing or searching for games to play.
Yet, books, computers, movies, mags and more.
The local library, enter the door.
Crystal Lee Jordan, an Atlantic City resident, was born and raised in Newark NJ. As a child she enjoyed many church bus rides to Atlantic City in the sixties. She has now gladly made Atlantic City her home. Crystal Lee enjoys writing and interior decorating.
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My siblings wanted, and got, more.
More Gilligan’s Island, Leave It To Beaver,
Lost in Space, while I, big sister, kept silent
my dismay at what reading was in that house—
scandal sheets, TV Guide, People, a set
of encyclopedias thirty years past its prime.
Nothing I was looking for. On the TV stand,
an Albanian grammar I was told to leave
alone. “You don’t need that,” said my Nana,
who tolerated popcorn kernels in the cushions
and my eating pickles from the jar at midnight,
which made her laugh. And so I let it go, gave in
to her pride in her English, Albanian a language
she wanted to leave behind. The libraries
of my American voice lay ahead of me—
primary school, middle school, hometown, county,
where I would be invited to come right in,
check it out, return it when due, or call to renew
if more time needed. In silence, I learned to keep lists
of fictions, history, plays, cookbooks, biographies,
vowing to read it all, all of it available, all of it, mine.
Susan Cavanaugh retired in 2020 from a career in health insurance, where she advocated for health care reform. Her recent poems appear in Exit 13 and NJ Bards Poetry Review. She has work forthcoming in Wild Librarian Press’s 2023 anthology, and Beach Badge magazine. Cavanaugh lives in Northfield, NJ.
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