On Libraries

 In 2022, the folks at Inspire Culture, Learning and Libraries asked Paper Crane Poets to write a commissioned poem for their annual general meeting.

We spent two months working together on the poem, which includes contributions from nineteen poets from the collective. The poem was inspired by our individual experiences in local libraries, and all the brilliant projects that Inspire provides to our communities too.

This finished piece includes contributions from nineteen poets from the Paper Cranes Collective: Sue Allen; Sonia Burns; Edwina Crowder; Sarah Dale; Laura Grevel; Rose Harvey; David Hunter; William Kummer; Phil Langran; Katey Logan; Andrea Lucy-Hirst; Sue McFarlane; Tara Singh; Leanne Moden; Jade Moore; Rachel Jackson; Gail Webb; and Dave Woods, with additional editing support from Ann Parker.

It was a joy to work on this project, and we’re really proud of the finished piece!



Beyond the library door

In the beginning, there was the word, and the word was 
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 

Now, collaborative noise buzzes on every floor.
Think trombones on a Tuesday morning, toddlers 
story time on a Friday afternoon. Think puppets 
and paragraphs, narratives, and cushions to sit on 

while we laugh. We could go to the North Pole today. 
We could go to Egypt – 2000 years ago. We could go 
anywhere, meet anyone, communicate in whatever 
language feels right. We could find fossil shell spirals 

pressed between pages, and be unfurled, unwound, 
never lost, only found. This space expands to fit us all. 
It is ethereal magic. We have travelled and it shows in 
the warmth of our eyes. We are acting out old stories, 

telling new tales. Tales of things forgotten and things 
half-remembered, capturing memories in movement, 
music, and song. We gather in circles, point our toes 
alongside strangers; we are oak trees, or elephants, 

dragonflies or friends. We share sounds, make music,
create joy, dancing past our limitations, singing away 
our troubles. Some come taking shelter from the rain
and find a treasure-trove of innovation, 

association, relaxation. Solid spines to grip 
when their own feel like they’re crumbling. 
We all find portals to new worlds here. 
Whatever shape we’re in – imagination breaks 

the rules, and we wrap ourselves in capes 
of curated stories and warm conversations. 
This wardrobe has an outfit for any occasion; 
patchwork shirts stitched by many hands. 

A reading shirt, an art shirt, a study shirt, 
a brew-us-another-cup-of-tea shirt.
In this place, we are best dressed, 
best kept, best in show because we know 

this is a public private world, a space to breathe 
deeply. The outside kerfuffle expertly muffled, 
while our spirits are amplified, fortified, satisfied 
by each new adventure we find between these 

pages, and within these walls, grateful to 
compassionate staff who give it their all. 
We are never alone with empty hearts 
or fogged up minds. We never lost the courage to try 

something new, never lost the wonder of pop-up tales and 
scribbled escapes. Never lost the library card, always kept that 
key. And now, we’re dancing, singing, playing, reading, being. 
Feeling all together better: better all together.





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