POMS #5: St. Agnes Bread, on the wings of angels

For a lift, here are two poems for this Friday. I adore the first, called "In the library," by our U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic. If you go to the Poetry Archive web page here and click on the audio, you can hear the poet read it.

In the library
by Charles Simic

for Octavio

There’s a book called
A Dictionary of Angels.
No one had opened it in fifty years,
I know, because when I did,
The covers creaked, the pages
Crumbled. There I discovered

The angels were once as plentiful
As species of flies.
The sky at dusk
Used to be thick with them.
You had to wave both arms
Just to keep them away.

Now the sun is shining
Through the tall windows.
The library is a quiet place.
Angels and gods huddles
In dark unopened books.
The great secret lies
On some shelf Miss Jones
Passes every day on her rounds.

She’s very tall, so she keeps
Her head tipped as if listening.
The books are whispering.
I hear nothing, but she does.

From Selected Poems (Faber and Faber, 2004), copyright © Charles Simic 2004.

And speaking of flying, my good friend Klecko, master baker at St. Agnes Bakery, shares his poem:

VAMPIRE (1250 W 7TH – SAINT PAUL)
by Dan "Klecko" McGleno

THIS BUILDING’S OLD –
THE HALLWAYS COLD –
CONDENSATION, CAUSING MOLD –

ON THE BASEBOARD –
ON THE WALL –
CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT –
OVENS CALL – (AND)

I’M GOING TO FLY TONIGHT-
GOING TO FLY TONIGHT-

RULE THE WORLD-
WHILE YOU SLEEP-
SO PRAY TO GOD, YOUR SOUL WILL KEEP –

BONES ARE COLD –
EYES ARE OLD –
SEEING STORIES NEVER TOLD –

AT YOUR TABLES –
IN YOUR MALL –
CLOCK STRIKES MIDNIGHT-
DUTY CALLS – (AND)

I’M GOING TO FLY TONIGHT-


You can warm your bones and your tummies with the good bread and fun doings at the St. Agnes Baking Co. monthly retail event tomorrow, Saturday, August 4, at 644 Olive Street in St. Paul. There's nothing better for breakfast than a slice of his black Russian rye with a little slather of butter on top, and you can pick up all kinds of other treats: the moist zucchini bread, the wild rice sourdough (great with smoked turkey and fresh sliced tomatoes). Retail day goes from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. right inside this commercial bakery.


I hear Klecko will be reading poetry to those waiting in line to get in, so fly on over there. What could be more uplifting than poetry and bread?