Library of Poetry Competition Submission

As They Write 

An oasis of English in a desert of French

Books line the walls as they fill the cases, up towards the ceiling

Every genre: classics to fiction to French literature

The stairs stand firmly in the corner

Each step’s center rubbed bare from the individuals who took the ascent

Exposing the austere wood beneath the crimson paint

Up the flight lies the serene atmosphere

The only sounds coming from the yellow typewriter tucked away along the side

As the white-bearded man in a checkered button-down types, his forehead creased in concentration

In the adjacent room sits a man hunched over a desk furiously scribbling words on his paper

Only stopping to shut the small window in front of him that opens each time he secures it

Outside, beneath the unlatched window, sitting on the ligneous bench is a young girl in a navy coat

The pitter-patter of falling water from the Jaguar green fountain and the tourists taking pictures surround her

As she writes in the little ornate journal with her black pen

The ink displaying her hopes to one day sit behind the open window