20160124 ( public libraries)

People sleeping (it is said snoring) in the Arcadia CA library

Anchored to the brick patio

At the front of the Carnegie

Branch of the Cleveland 

Public Library on Fulton

In my neighborhood are

Two sets of chairs and tables

Inset with checkerboards 

For the casual play of chess

And checkers fans in the area.

Granted it was far more

Pleasant before the nearby

Trees were removed which

Kindly shaded the tables

In green from the hot summer

Sun. They look forlorn in

The snowy cold of ten to

Twenty degree weather today

Not being used for games

By the library habitues of

Homeless, beggars, and

Drunken itinerants gathering

For raucous obscene shouting

Matches, scaring young 

Mothers bringing their kids

To story hours, other programs.

Despite the disturbance

They’re generally harmless,

Devoting their catcalls to

Each other, to the sky, or

Just to trying to find their

Next cigarette. Waste barrels

Near the tables are generally

Filled to overflowing with

Fast food schmattas and

The seats home to stuffed

Bags (of bag ladies). Summer

Offers a comparable scene

Except they’re going into

The library to sleep in air-

Conditioned comfort, use the

Free computers, restrooms, 

Outside is for smoking. One 

Of my earliest jobs was page

In my local library. It wasn’t

Home for street people, didn’t 

Need guards to walk the

Interior to quell patrons’ fears

Of unkempt visitors. We had

No chess tables, sadly soon

Lost the pleasant trees that

Shaded the steps and the 

Windows. Were there fewer

Desperate homeless then or

Did we hide them better? If

Anything my childhood

Neighborhood was much

More homogeneous, definitely

Better off. My friends’ fathers

All had jobs. Retired people

Shopped, they didn’t read

Books. They played checkers,

A few chess, but mostly at

Home with relatives, school

Kids. Rarely did you encounter

An alkie. When we did my mom,

Who always held my hand

When we walked somewhere,

Crossed the street to avoid them.

Today the library interior warms

Them up for periodic smoking

Expeditions. It’s useless to

Complain of the nuisance—

Seems hard-hearted in the cold

Of winter, however obnoxious

They get. Were the police to

Urge them on, they’d soon

Reassemble at the playground

Across the street and return

When the officers, who should

Be out catching crooks, have 

Left the scene.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016