Johnson County Library

New! Improved! JoCoLibrary.org!

2007-08-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

The Library's Web site has been completely redesigned! In addition, we've launched the newest edition to the Johnson County Library "Web World," http://www.jocokids.org/ - a Web site just for kids ages 6-12.

From here on out, we will no longer update this blog (http://jocolibrary.blogspot.com/). Instead, our new blog can be found at www.jocolibrary.org/news. Also, we now offer a wide-variety of RSS feeds that you can subscribe to. For details, visit www.jocolibrary.org/news.

Wikipedia: Can We Trust It?

2007-08-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

As Wikipedia approaches two million entries, the online collaborative encyclopedia becomes more and more important to our information needs. However, ongoing questions remain: Should I trust the information? Should kids be allowed to use Wikipedia in school? And how is Wikipedia changing the way we think about our information? These questions and more will be discussed 7pm, Monday, August 13, at Central Resource Library. Come out and join us for a lively discussion about Wikipedia, social networking, and encyclopedias.

Please register online for this event at the Calendar of Events or call 913-495-2409.

Epilogue: Battle of the Bands 2007

2007-08-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

Just a few more pictures from Battle of the Bands.

Fate is Tragic at Battle of the Bands

2007-08-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from Fate is Tragic's performance last Friday night.

BJ at Battle of the Bands

2007-08-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from BJ's performance last Friday night.

Eponine at Battle of the Bands

2007-08-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from Eponine's performance last Friday night.

Solmork at Battle of the Bands

2007-08-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from Solmork's performance last Friday night.

Battle of the Bands 2007

2007-07-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the end of summer reading we had our annual Battle of the Bands. This year we had four bands. The competition got started late, but it was well worth the wait. And since this was my first time, I was anticipating the event with a lot of excitement. I just didn't know what was going to happen. How good would the music really be? I was soon to find out. Antioch Neighborhood Library closed at 6 p.m., but by 7 p.m. the library had been turned into a teen friendly oasis with parents banned, tons of pizza, and what everyone was there for—great music.

The competition began with Solmork. They performed an edgy hard rock with screeching lyrics. As I was taking pictures, the Kansas City Star photographer leaned over to me. He said he had seen a lot of band performances, but he thought this band was better than most. As the night started, I knew the music was going to be more than I expected.

Eponine came next with a more mellow rock. Unlike the previous band's guitars and drums, Eponine performed as a trio on keyboards, sax, and drums. Lead vocals were provided by the multi-talented drummer, who for one song brought out an accordion to the delight of the crowd. I've never seen a drummer get around so much. Eponine's music and sense of humor was great.

The two member group BJ came out next with hard percussion and screaming lyrics. They sounded angry with their fiercely intense percussion and keyboards. Although angry, the lyrics were filled with passion for the planet, alienation, and a cry against hypocrisy.

Lastly, but not to be outdone, was the hard rock of Fate is Tragic. Fate of Tragic bonded with the teen audience immediately. The crowd gathered around the group. The group feeding on all the attention didn't disappoint. They performed brilliantly. It was enough on a competitive night of music to win the crowd's vote and take home the honors of best band.

Watch for more photos of each bands performance sometime this next week!

Fabulous Interviews: Laurie Notaro

2007-07-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Idiot Girls Action Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro was the September 2006 title for the Library's Fabulous Fourth Fridays online book discussion. Ms. Notaro was unable to join in on the discussion last fall because she was very hard at work on her latest book, There's a (Slight) Chance I Might be Going to Hell. But, she graciously agreed to answer our questions about her about her life as a writer, current projects and how the Idiot Girls got started.

JCL: How did "Idiot Girls" start?
Notaro: Well, there never really was an official club or anything, it was just a Friday or Saturday night when my friends were walking from one Tempe bar to another and I'm sure we were a little tipsy and giggling and tripping and being dorky the way that tipsy girls do, and I said something like, "Well, aren't we the Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club?" and it just sort of stuck. It seemed a perfect title for my first book, so that's what I used.

JCL: What/when was your first I.G. moment? What made you decide to start up a Yahoo! Group?
Notaro: My friend Kathy Cano Murillo, otherwise known as The Crafty Chica, told me it would be a good idea and wouldn't quit telling me to do it. So I did, and now we have a really strong, cool, fun community and I've met so many people. Sometimes it gets a little crazy, but for the most part, it's a lot of fun.

JCL: Tell us about your latest project?
Notaro: My latest project was novel that came out in May called There's A Slight Chance I Might be Going to Hell about a girl who moves with her husband to a very eccentric Pacific Northwestern town and has trouble making new friends. It's very much based on my own experiences of moving to Eugene, Oregon, and it was an incredible amount of fun to write. I really enjoyed taking fact and blending it with fiction, the options were limitless and that was such a thrill for me. It my regular work, I always know the beginning, middle and end because I'm traditionally a non-fiction writer, so it was great to really mix things up and play around with the plot. I loved it.

JCL: What are you working on now?
Notaro: I'm back working on a new non fiction book that will be out next summer. I'm glad to be back to non-fiction where I can concentrate more on the humor portion of the book, rather than figuring out the logistics of a plot and a variety of characters, but I hope to go back to fiction again after this new book is completed. This book will be somewhat of the real life version of my life in Oregon, but I saved quite a few nuggets that I didn't use in Slight Chance.

JCL: What are you currently reading and who are your favorite authors/genres?
Notaro: I am currently reading Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky and The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri. I really enjoy historical fiction--I love Geraldine Brooks and I've got the new book by Paulette Jiles next on my list. I don't read the same genre of books as what I write for a variety of reasons. It's really important to keep my writing voice as true as I possibly can, and some of the humorists out there are so good, how can you help but being influenced by them, you know? So I just don't read them. I buy their books, I put them on the shelf, but I don't read them. Maybe someday. I guess that's what I'm waiting for.

JCL: How has the Internet impacted your success (i.e. building readership, selling books, etc.)?
Notaro: Oh, certainly, the mailing list I've been building is strictly by email, people can email me from my website, I have an active myspace page and then there's the Idiot Girls' Yahoo Group, which is a very tight, very busy community and is filled with a bunch of people I really like. If it wasn't for the online capacities, my communication with readers would be difficult. But I do remember that it wasn't all that long ago that I would actually get letters and I would actually mail letters back. Stamps and everything.

JCL: What are your book tours like? Do you have a favorite city that you like to visit?
Notaro: I have a couple of favorite cities where the readers never, ever disappoint. I was very lucky and my tour was stocked full of my favorite stops this time around. Los Angeles is also a favorite of mine that I didn't get to go to this year, however, but hopefully it will be on the list next year. Book tours are an odd thing: if you like to eat alone, travel alone, wait for hours in airports alone and watch TV alone, it's paradise, and I actually do enjoy my alone time, so in that respect, it's very cathartic. But you're essentially in a different city almost every day and by the time you figure in travelling time, airport security time, dropping into bookstores to sign stock, and doing whatever media is scheduled for that stop, there is very little to no time for exploring or enjoying a city, and physically, it's pretty hard. The payoff is at the reading when the readers just rock and ask questions and everyone's so nice it's just like hanging out with old friends. That part--which is why you're out there in the first place--is the best. It's wonderful. But otherwise, a book tour is demanding and hard and tiring and I got home four days ago and haven't put a dent in the email I need to answer, the bills I need to pay or the attention I owe my dog and husband. So I have some catching up to do.

JCL: Do you let your Mom or Nana read your I.G. books? If so, what do they think of them?
Notaro: Oh, sure. They both read them. My mother isn't always so happy about the contents, but this is what I do for a living. I try to make people laugh about the mistakes I've made and bad experiences I've had, so I suppose that's a natural reactions. She tried to tell her friends that the portions about her in the book are made up, but they clearly aren't and I can back everything up with eyewitness testimonies from my father and sisters, so I really don't know why she even tries that route. I told her flat out, "If you don't want to be in the books, do what dad does: Go upstairs and be quiet," but the truth is that she can't help herself. She has no idea how funny she is. She just started an extensive collection of HOLIDAY SPATULAS and I'm not kidding. It's the biggest waste of money I've seen since her cupcake candles. Spatulas with Easter eggs on them. Christmas trees. Shamrocks. Little hearts. How can I leave something like that untouched? It would be simply irresponsible.

JCL: What is your writing environment like? Do you have a favorite spot in your house where you like to write?
Notaro: It's a filthy, dirty, littered room in my house that I call an office but is really just an "Excess Stuff Repository" in my house. I have a desk in here, a treadmill, a TV, a painting easel, a drill press, a bed and a computer. I can only move in about two square feet in it, which is enough room to tunnel through to my chair, sit down at my desk and answer your email. I would like a clean office but I'm fooling myself. I've never had a clean office and I've never had a clean room for as long as I've been able to stand on my own two feet and shove things behind a door, under a bed or into a closet.

JCL :In We Thought You'd Be Prettier you said you were getting 10-15 dirty e-mails a day. We get a lot of junk mail here too and we were wondering if you ever thought of posting the e-mails on your Web site as a way to get them to stop? Do you think that would work or just encourage them!? How do you think we can get rid of spammers?
Notaro: I have Gmail now, and it filters my crap mail for me. It's glorious. Yahoo also does the same thing. I get approximately 1000 dirty emails a month wanting to make my who-see-whats-it more attractive for women, and Gmail just whisks them away like bad fruit.

JCL: How much of a transition was it for you to write fiction instead of nonfiction? What, if any, changes did you have to make in your writing style?
Notaro: It was a big transition, but one that I really enjoyed. It was like I had been cooking with pepper and salt for my whole life and someone suddenly opened up a spice cabinet. And certainly, my writing style changed a bit; there's a whole rhythmic thing that happens in non-fiction because I write in first person--you have to build, you have to pull back, you add, then subtract, you have to make the reader YOU. You have to make them understand why you do the things you do. With fiction, I didn't need to do that so much, I could explain motives and reactions with well, an explanation. I could control that universe as a whole. With non-fiction, I would say that I have way more of an objective, you really need to take the reader along with you, side by side, along tangents and hissy fits and melt downs. In fiction, my main character was much nicer than I am. She was much easier to deal with.

JCL: We looked all over your Web site but couldn't find I.G. t-shirts for sale. Have you ever thought of making some?
Notaro: Oh, I have. I did. It's a long story. I gave them away on tour one year. Maybe someday I'll make more, but if I do, who's going to take orders and cash checks and run to the post office and answer emails? Me. And if that happens, people are going to pay me money for T-shirts they might get in say, a year. And that's if I'm on top of things. It's just a beehive of hate waiting to be cracked open, and I can't stand anymore people hating me than they already have reason to, you know?

JCL: Do you have anything else you'd like to add? Comments? A plug for your new book, perhaps?
Notaro: Thank so much for being so nice and wanting to know about my books. You are wonderful.

Hello, Donna!

2007-06-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

The news is out: Donna Lauffer, who has been Johnson County Library's Interim County Librarian since January, is now the honest-to-goodness, not-interim County Librarian. There's more official information in the press release (PDF) and the Kansas City Star article, so I'd like to talk about how I'm personally happy to have Donna Lauffer as our new County Librarian.

While Donna has served as Interim County Librarian, I've found her to be very approachable and accessible, friendly and relaxed. While I was taking pictures for my post about the kick-off for The Big Read, Donna was walking by. She stopped, walked over to me, and asked my opinion of the floral arrangement. She stayed and talked with me about how much she liked the flowers and how impressed she was with everyone's work for The Big Read.

Donna is obviously committed to Johnson County Library as a public service and integral part of the community. She shows a passion for where Johnson County Library is going and how it gets there, and she has good ideas for the future (as well as being open to other people's good ideas).

So, I'm pleased as punch that Donna has decided to keep swimming in the deep end of the pool, staying on as our County Librarian. Congratulations, Donna!

Summer Reading Is No Mystery

2007-05-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

Summer Reading is here again!

Library users and librarians alike look forward to our Summer Reading Club every year. And why not? It's jam-packed with programs, activities, events, prizes, and of course, reading!

We have three Summer Reading programs this year:

"Get a Clue" is our Preschool-Fifth Grade Summer Reading Club.

"You Never Know" is our Summer Reading Club for Teens, Sixth-Grade and up.

"Report Not Required" is our Summer Reading Program for educators and librarians (because we deserve some Summer Reading fun, too, right?).

All three programs begin Tuesday, May 29. We've got more information (and extra goodies) on our Summer Reading Club pages, so check them out and come join in the fun!

A Festival for Readers

2007-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Kansas City Literary Festival is tomorrow! How exciting! Meteorologist Gary Lezak will open the festival at 9:50 a.m., and then from 10:oo a.m. to 6:50 p.m., Kansas City will host a nonstop cavalcade of writers. There will be more authors than you can shake a stick at! (Please don't actually shake a stick at any authors. It's impolite, and it makes them uncomfortable.) There will be novelists, poets, nonfiction writers--authors for all types and all ages of readers! There will also be exhibitors, food, and representatives of the Johnson County Library.

The Literary Festival will be at the Country Club Plaza. Come on down! The more, the merrier! Let's make this an annual event, and show the world how much Kansas City loves books and reading!

The Big Brush-Off

2007-05-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about living in Kansas City is the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It has great collections, great staff, and it offers great programs. When I was a kid, I took a drawing class at the museum, and it was in that class that I developed a love of the Nelson's Asian collection, particularly the brush paintings.

Flash forward some years (I'm not saying how many) to this past Sunday, when the museum, in partnership with the Library and The Big Read program, offered a Chinese Brush Painting Workshop. Participants got a tour of the Chinese ink painting collection, a demonstration of brush painting in action, and a chance to create their own landscape paintings using bamboo brushes.

Kansas City continues to be a great place for art and culture, and the Johnson County Library is proud to be a part of this tradition.

Happy Birthday, Alice!

2007-05-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

Today is the birthday of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, those classics of literature written by the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and published under the name Lewis Carroll.

The books that Alice inspired have become cultural icons, and references to them can be found in music, movies, television shows, comics, video games, and more. They're also fun books to read on their own accord.

So, Happy Birthday, Alice!

You can learn more about Alice Liddell from this Web page, and you can page through an electronic version of the original manuscript for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland at the Web site for the British Library. Of course, you can always check out the books and other versions of the stories at the Johnson County Library!

Fare Thee Well, April

2007-04-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

Well, National Poetry Month is drawing to a close. For our final poetry offering, we present a poem with local, as well as national, significance.

Kansas

by Nicholas Vachel Lindsey

O, I have walked in Kansas
Through many a harvest field
And piled the sheaves of glory there
And down the wild rows reeled;

Each sheaf a little yellow sun,
A heap of hot-rayed gold;
Each binder like Creation's hand
To mold suns, as of old.

Straight overhead the orb of noon
Beat down with brimstone breath;
The desert wind from south and west
Was blistering flame and death.

Yet it was gay in Kansas,
A-fighting that strong sun;
And I and many a fellow-tramp
Defied that wind and won.

And we felt free in Kansas
From any sort of fear,
For thirty thousand tramps like us
There harvest every year.

She stretches arms for them to come,
She roars for helpers then,
And so it is in Kansas
That tramps, one month, are men.

We sang in burning Kansas
The songs of Sabbath-school,
The "Day-Star" flashing in the East,
The "Vale of Eden" cool.

We sang in splendid Kansas
"The flag that set us free" --
That march of fifty thousand men
With Sherman to the sea.

We feasted high in Kansas
And had much milk and meat.
The tables groaned to give us power
Wherewith to save the wheat.

Our beds were sweet alfalfa hay
Within the barn-loft wide.
The loft doors opened out upon
The endless wheat-field tide.

I loved to watch the windmills spin
And watch that big moon rise.
I dreamed and dreamed with lids half-shut,
The moonlight in my eyes.

For all men dream in Kansas,
By noonday and by night,
By sunrise yellow, red and wild,
And moonrise wild and white.

The wind would drive the glittering clouds,
The cottonwoods would croon,
And past the sheaves and through the leaves
Came whispers from the moon.

Building a Better Mousetrap

2007-04-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, the Gardner Library offered a fun program for homeschoolers based on the inventions of Rube Goldberg.

Who's Rube Goldberg? Oh, I'm glad you asked!

Rube Goldberg was a prolific and wildly inventive cartoonist in the earlier part of the 20th century. Although he produced a number of comic strips and political cartoons, he's most remembered for his brilliantly convoluted mechanisms, designed to make the simplest of tasks extremely complicated. (For example, check out his "Simplified Pencil Sharpener.")

For Friday's program, Gardner's Melissa and Cassie read Lights Out by Arthur Geisert and talked about simple machines with the children in attendance. Then they led the children in working together as a team to create a Rube Goldbergesque machine that would turn the pages of a book. Each participant got to leave with a hand-drawn picture of the invention and a description of what would happen at each step.

The Post-Party Wrap-Up

2007-04-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Last night's elementia reception was a smashing success! The Carmack Community Room was beautifully decorated with Asian art and crafts (in keeping with the theme of The Big Read), good food was served, and the teens showed off their art and read their written works. The new JoCoTeenScene Web site has received great response, too. A good time was had by all, as can be seen in the pictures:

It's a Whole New Scene

2007-04-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

We’ve waited a long time for April 26 to get here. We’ve had meetings about it, created fliers, told all our friends, family members and perfect strangers about it, and I’m sure some of us at the Library have even dreamed about it. At 7 p.m. at the Central Resource Library, two major events will happen: the reception for the release of the fourth volume of elementia will commence, and the new Web site just for teens, www.jocoteenscene.org, will have its official launch.

The new Web site is very interactive. Teens can submit their poetry and book reviews online as well as comment on everyone else’s online postings. They can even choose a “skin” for the Web site that best represents their mood. The skin themes include a splashy orange theme, a groovy 1960s theme, a sports theme, a gothic theme and a jungle theme (with monkeys!). In addition, all the booklists created by Youth Services staff are in the process of being updated. New booklists will be added to the Web site each week, and yes, teens can post comments on those, too. Finally, an instant message window is available on all of the JoCoTeen Scene pages so that those using the Web site can ask a librarian questions during library hours without leaving their computer.

We're very proud of the new site, so please take a moment to check it out. If you have questions, a feedback form is available at the bottom of the JoCoTeenScene Web site.

Teen Literature Day

2007-04-19T07:46:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make: I think a lot of teen/young adult books are some of the best reading out there these days. There have been great books for teens for a long time, but lately, it seems like the pickings have gotten particularly good. There's a tremendous variety of topics, styles, reading levels, genres--there really is something for everyone (even us cranky grown-ups).

So I'm pleased as punch to announce that today, as part of National Library Week, is the first ever Support Teen Literature Day! You can check out the official Web page for ideas on how to help support teen lit. If you teach or work with teens, if you have teen children or grandchildren (or nieces and nephews), or if you just want to help support teen literature in some way, today's a good day to really get involved in teens and their literature! And if you haven't read any teen/young adult books lately, why not check one out today?

"Nothing can be said to be certain, except..."

2007-04-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

If you're rushing to get your taxes done before the deadline, you can relax a little bit, because the federal and state deadlines have been extended until tomorrow, April 17. (That's for Kansas and Missouri, at least. If you're filing in another state, you'll want to check this Web page to see the filing deadlines for all fifty states.)

Now that we've covered the "taxes" portion of this post, let's move along to...a poem about death:

"Because I could not stop for Death"

by Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played
At wrestling in a ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then ’t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.

It's All About the Love

2007-04-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

National Library Week begins today!

I'm sure everyone reading this blog celebrates their library throughout the year, even if it's just by taking advantage of and appreciating all the resources your library offers. National Library Week, however, gives you the opportunity to make a show of how much you love your library, and it give us the opportunity to make a show of how much we appreciate our patrons. It's like a week-long group hug.

One way to show your library love is to make a bookmark for your library. All through April, the Johnson County Library and the Friends of the Library are having a bookmark contest. You can design your own bookmark, and the winners will have their entries made into real library bookmarks! Want more information? Check out the official bookmark contest page.

Another way to show your library love is to make a comment here on this blog. Tell everyone what it is about the Johnson County Library that you love so much.

Here's one of the many things I love about JCL: free books for kids. Yes, that's pretty obvious, but I think it still deserves recognition. My daughter is a voracious reader of all kinds of books, and it's so great that I can bring her to the library to check out books about dinosaurs, science experiments, magic tricks and dragons (to name just a few of the things she loves to read about).

What do you love about your library?

The Power of Poetry: Johnson County “Library Ladies” in the News

2007-04-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

National Poetry Month isn’t just an academic exercise or something only English majors can appreciate. Poetry is real people, real emotions, and real power.

For almost ten years Johnson County Librarians Kathy McLellan and Tricia Suellentrop have visited young adults at the Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center, delivering books, discussing stories, and encouraging teens to wield their power and explore their feelings through writing. Kathy and Tricia have been dubbed the “Library Ladies” by the youths at JDC.

Check out today’s KC Star article about Kathy, Tricia, and the young adults they care about, in “Poetry blooms in detention.”

Through the Looking-Glass

2007-04-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

Your poetry offering for today is one of the greatest "nonsense" poems in the English language, guaranteed to baffle your computer's spell checker. Without further ado, here is...

Jabberwocky

by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

A Not-So-Quiet Night With the Big Read

2007-04-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last night, the Library, along with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, kicked off The Big Read with a reception that was quite the success. Around 140 people showed up for Asian food, music and ancient costumes. Even if you couldn't make it for the reception, you can still come to the Central Resource Library and see the beautiful floral arrangement that was put on display for the program. (If you can't make it to Central, that's a picture of the arrangement up above, but the picture only begins to capture the beauty.) There will also be programs for The Big Read throughout April and May, which we're all very excited about. You can find out more on our Web page for The Big Read.

Because we'll be exploring and celebrating Asian culture, literature, art and history with The Big Read, today's National Poetry Month offering is from the legendary T'ang Dynasty poet Li Bai (also known as Li Po, Li Bo and Li T'ai-po).

In the Quiet Night

by Li Bai

So bright a gleam on the foot of my bed—
Could there have been a frost already?
Lifting myself to look, I found that it was moonlight.
Sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home.

April Is the Coolest Month

2007-04-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hi! My name is Josh, I'm the new Johnson County Library blogger, and I love April Fools' Day! It's a day to celebrate bad jokes, sneaky tricks, and clever pranks. How great is that?

If there's a problem with April Fools' Day, though, it's this: everyone is already expecting to be pranked. If the Johnson County Library were to announce today that all JCL branches except for the Central Resource Library were being permanently closed, nobody would believe it. If it were announced today that a new JCL branch was being built, named after Paul Rudd, star of Clueless and Anchorman (and graduate of Shawnee Mission West), nobody would believe it. Rightly so, because both of those announcements would be false. I can't lie to you, not even on a day like today. (I will, however, recommend you check out Google's new TiSP service. It looks like a good deal for high-speed Internet access.)

April is also National Poetry Month, so I'll be posting poems on this blog throughout the month. If you like one of the poems posted, leave a comment and let everyone know.

To kick off National Poetry Month, with a nod towards April Fools' Day foolishness, I present to you what may very well be the worst poem ever written in the English language:

A Tragedy

by Theophile Marzials

Death!
Plop.
The barges down in the river flop.
Flop, plop,
Above, beneath.
From the slimy branches the grey drips drop...
To the oozy waters, that lounge and flop...
And my head shrieks--"Stop"
And my heart shrieks--"Die."...

Ugh! yet I knew--I knew
If a woman is false can a friend by true?
It was only a lie from beginning to end--
My Devil--My "friend."...

So what do I care,
And my head is empty as air--
I can do,
I can dare
(Plop, plop
The barges flop
Drip, drop.)
I can dare, I can dare!
And let myself all run away with my head
And stop.
Drop
Dead.
Plop, flop,

* * *

Pretty bad, eh? Well, I promise the poems posted after today will be much better. I'm not fooling you.*

* Did you really think I was going to say, "I'm not joshing you"? There are some places I just won't go, even on April Fools' Day.