Susan Miles of Traverse City, MI recently sent me a copy of a wonderful book. Called Revolting Librarians it’s edited by Celeste West and Elizabeth Katz and my edition is the second printing from 1972. I was flipping through it this morning and a poem caught my eye. Now it’s caught in my head. So to share the love/earworm:
a dewey decimal mind
give me a dewey decimal system,
make it for my mind.
fix me a dewey decimal system,
madness is so unkind.
classify my strong emotions,
rectify my silly notions.
give me a decimal system for my mind.
grant me a dewey decimal system,
the sun no longer shines.
lend me a dewey decimal system,
help! i’m going blind.
interfile my fantasies
with harsh reality.
give me a decimal system for my mind.
rush me a dewey decimal system,
sanity’s hard to find.
speed me that dewey decimal system,
before i blow my mind.
catalogue my fears and sorrows,
shelve them away until tomorrow.
give me a decimal system for my mind.
tod hawks 1972
Happy Poetry Friday! The round-up is at Random Noodling.
About Elizabeth Bird
Great poem! I can really empathize with Tod Hawks. I could use a dewey decimal system for my mind, too! Happy Poetry Friday!
As one who has been diagnosed as ADD, I would love to have a dewey decimal mind!
Yes! A way to classify my strong emotions! Just what I need.
May I take this poem and put it on my blog??? It’s so perfect to describe everything about how my mind works, and how I wish it worked….
I’m doing my masters in library science, and trying to wrestle my way through a paper this weekend. This poem is feeling VERY WELL TIMED!
Sure, why not? I figure it deserves to be remembered.
Fun!