April is National Poetry Month

Roses are pink, violets are white
I am not a poet, try as I might.

Or how about this… A rose by any other name might be a turnip.

April is national poetry month. Write a poem. Bring it to Pine River Public Library, my home. Our vast staff will read the poems – keep them relatively short, by the way – and we will endeavor to publish some of them in my column! How great is that? I just thought of it. Muriel doesn’t even know yet. She’ll guess when she gets the rough draft of this epistle. Be sure to put your name on your poem and your age might be nice as well. We’ll post some on the board in the library, so make sure we can read them.

March is half gone. Bring a can of food with your poem or your return books. I would suggest not dropping any food down the book drop. You might squish a DVD.

Bonjour mes amis,
Browser here with a rousing bit of news. First, let me just say that the word for today is “issue”. This is a tricky word. It can be a noun or a verb. “The Merriam-Webster Dictionary” gives some of the following definitions:
· Egress
· Emergence
· Exit
· Outlet
· Vent
· Offspring
· Outcome
· Point of debate
· The act of officially giving out or printing

This last is the one about which I am writing today. Though I feel I am the king of Pine River, I am apparently mistaken. I did think it a bit odd that there were very few furry friends roaming the streets of our fair city. It seems that I must be restrained – not literarily, of course, but literally. I therefore appeal to you, my dear readers, for your assistance. I must be walked. On a leash! Who knew? Muriel has asked me to publish a request for volunteers who would be willing to “take the air” with me, as the British say. A brisk walk would be peachy. The more volunteers the better. Call Muriel at the library if you would be willing to take a stroll with a feline in tow.

Additionally, does any fine friend have an enclosure of some kind – a tent, a screened something or other – that you would be willing to loan the library to place outside so that I may be allowed out of doors without straying afield?

The time frame of this “loan” is a bit sketchy at this point. When the construction on our roof is completed there should be a sunny space for me to take the air without need of a temporary structure.

I know our parents taught us “neither a borrower nor a lender be”, but at this point I am in a bit of a bind. Besides that, it is the point of a library is it not? Borrowing and lending? So lend me your attention and any time you may have for a stroll, please, and if you or a neighbor has some sort of outdoor enclosure you would be willing to install at the library for the time being, that would be great as well.

That is the issue at hand.
I remain,
Browser, the library cat

P.S. Oops! I forgot. I mustn’t leave the premises of the library without my leash. It may take some time for me to remember this last bit, so I leave it up to you not to let me out accidentally.

Printed in the Pine River Journal 19 March 2009