#ResistIgnorance Begins

Dearest Readers,

Today marks the official beginning of resisting the new political administration under President Trump which is devoid of respect for human rights, immigrants, writers, journalists, educators and any diversity of opinion.

In response to the hundreds of thousands of people who marched the Women’s March on Washington, D.C., and all across the globe today, let it be known that the Drunken Library will stand as an ally and a resource to #trumpignorance & #resistignorance. Thank you to all people who worked tirelessly to organize a peaceful and successful protest. The quantity and quality of the people in attendance were unlike any other event in history; stunning & remarkable. Let it be known that we are #loudertogether & #strongertogether.

 

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Share your thoughts, opinions, photos, comments and appreciations here.

Love trumps hate,

Hilary Scheppers
Creator of Drunken Library

“What Happened” – Forrest Hamer

To say about it one thing. No, two. It was a horror. It could not be spoken.
So first there was the problem of recovering speech.
Calling out to it, listening each other.
We looked to the assurances of nature — regular violence, regular relief.
Color splayed before us — yellows, rhythms of red.
Faces and patterns in faces. Patience.
Finally, a word, but not many.
Silence again, longing.
More words but not what happened; words we had already said.
Horror holding, a black hole. Opening a little,
then a little more, then: we could think about the horror: what happened
a kind of speech, but not yet.

“Any Case” – Wislawa Szymborska

It could have happened.
It had to happen.
It happened earlier. Later.
Closer. Farther away.
It happened, but not to you.

You survived because you were first.
You survived because you were last.
Because alone. Because the others.
Because on the left. Because on the right.
Because it was raining. Because it was sunny.
Because a shadow fell.

Luckily there was a forest.
Luckily there were no trees.
Luckily a rail, a hook, a beam, a brake,
a frame, a turn, an inch, a second.
Luckily a straw was floating on the water.

Thanks to, thus, in spite of, and yet.
What would have happened if a hand, a leg,
one step, a hair away?

So you are here? Straight from that moment still suspended?
The net’s mesh was tight, but you– through the mesh?
I can’t stop wondering at it, can’t be silent enough.
Listen,
how quickly your heart is beating in me.

– Translated from the Polish by Grazyna Drabik & Sharon Olds

Song to Close 2016: “I Feel It Coming” – The Weeknd and Daft Punk



This is pure golden liquid ecstasy, and really, valuable to every part of our musical bodies. Mmmm. Abel’s voice mixed with funk royalty couldn’t be a better, stronger, collaboration. This song is arguably the best song of the year, and one to say (dance) goodbye to 2016. We will be playing it all December. As always, enjoy & repeat.

Of Three or Four in a Room – Yehuda Amichai

Of three or four in a room
there is always one who stands at the window.
He must see the evil among the thorns
and the fires on the hill.
And how people who went out of their houses whole
are given back in the evening like small change.
 
Of three or four in a room
there is always one who stands at the window,
his dark hair above his thoughts.
Behind him, words.
And in front of him voices wandering without a knapsack,
hearts without provisions, prophecies without water,
large stones that have been returned there
and stay sealed, like letters that have no
address and no one to receive them.

Kate Millett Said

“Of course it is impossible to tell the truth. For example, how does one know it? I will not belabor the difficulty by telling you how hard I have tried. And if compulsion forces me to tell the truth, it may also lead me into error, or invention.”