Can't Focus on a Novel? Try Poetry.

Let's be real today and talk about something that is still a problem in our industry. Many of us are still having trouble focusing on reading. There are a variety of reasons, and the feelings have fluctuated for some, but it is a very real issue.

Now, I am a huge advocate of the argument that reading about books is just as good as reading a books in order for us to do our job; in fact, often reading about books is better because you can learn about the appeal of so many more titles this way, espeically ones you might not enjoy yourself but you have patrons who would. [More details in my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service because that is an entire lecture on its own]

But I also know that many of you are struggling with the fact that you want to read more but literally cannot. To you, I am suggesting poetry, I am actually suggesting poetry to everyone for a few reasons, but in particular, to you, the library worker who wants to read but cannot focus. Look to poetry.

Here is why:

1. Poetry is way different today than the poetry you read in school. Just like fiction, there is a type of poetry for every reader. From an increase in novels-in-verse to options to an extremely diverse group of writers to genre poetry [Horror poetry in particular is phenomenal these days], there is literally a poem for every reader. Check out this excellent post on Book Riot, "Poetry for Beginners" for an introduction.
2. Speaking of Book Riot. We also have 2 excellent resources at our finger tips that regularly write about poetry from a RA and Collection Development standpoint. It used to be that we only saw these resources in April for National Poetry month, but The Millions has excellent, regular poetry coverage by clicking here. That coverage is mostly focused on new titles with a monthly report on the best poetry. While Book Riot combines new and backlist, lists and articles, essays and all ages of poetry by using this link*. Both resources offer timely and engaging coverage that you can use both to find poetry for yourself AND to suggest to patrons. Also, the display potential afforded by these resources is endless!
3. I mentioned an increase in novels in verse in #1 above. This is not a fad in teen literature, it is becoming something YA readers expect, a standard option. Popular novels like Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo are fueling this format revolution. And let's remember, today's teens are quickly becoming tomorrow's adult patrons. They are reading poetry in general at a higher rate-- both traditional poetry and novels in verse. We need to be ready to help them, and reading more poetry is a great starting point.
4. Finally, don't forget the readers. Click here for the Goodreads page on Poetry in general. This will include new releases, most popular, and reader generated lists. You can also click here for the specific page for books that users have tagged "Novels-in-Verse" or "Verse-Novels." Both are necessary because readers are not librarians and they don't use standard language. [And that is okay, by the way.]

Thankfully, poetry as a more mainstream leisure reading option was on the rise before Covid so we have these resources ready. If you are having trouble focusing, I bet many of your patrons are too. Instead of  feeling bad that they can't focus, let's remind them they can still enjoy reading by exploring a new format, one that is not what they expect, and one that comes in smaller portions without sacrificing storytelling.

And isn't this also a great way to remind our communities of how important our staff are, by suggesting titles our patrons would never find without us, the staff member. As I mentioned here, we need to broadcast the fact that the staff at our libraries matter because when budgets get tight, your community is going to demand layoffs. Again, go here for more nuance on this topic. Poetry is a great place to show your community of the power of staff in delivery of RA Service.

* Footnote: When Book Riot recently re-designed their site, the easy access to tags at the bottom of each post was lost. I want to give props to librarian and Book Riot editor Kelly Jensen for helping me to understand how to better navigate their site. She explained that you can still search categories that aren't available in the preloaded filters with the url book riot.com/catgeory/"insert genre here." So, for example, to get poetry you type in https://bookriot.com/category/poetry/. Thank you Kelly.