Show Me the Place, 9

“Show me the place.”

Duke Senior in As You Like It (2.1)

9: Carnegie Public Library; Enid, Oklahoma

Yes, Enid had a library—

A gift from Andrew Carnegie.

My family went there every week—

Or even more—to get a peek

At what the shelves held that was new—

And I knew just what I would do:

Just check for cowboy books, of course!

Some prairie guy upon a horse.

And so I met Bill Hickock there—

And Cody (Bill). This was the fare

I never became weary of—

My reading based on purest love.

The building was so beautiful—

The best in town—my heart was full.

I later learned they’d torn it down—

A stain upon my old hometown.

R.I.P. Carnegie Public Library

Enid, Oklahoma

1904–72

I have published via Kindle Direct the story of that library--and my reading life: Turning Pages: A Memoir of Books and Libraries and Loss (2012).  Link to it.