Ode to a Little Free Library
Your form is so sleek
Your rooftop so pointy
You shout without words
You’re welcome! Come join me!
No password or key
No nine-digit code
No “choose all the bridges”
No forms to download
You don’t talk of despots
Nor current events
Your treasure’s not blocked
By electrical fence
The beauty of you
Is your simple design
I can open the door
Let my eyes roam the spines
Then I pick up a book
Filled with beautiful words
That release my dark thoughts
Like a flock of freed birds
Your rooftop so pointy
You shout without words
You’re welcome! Come join me!
No password or key
No nine-digit code
No “choose all the bridges”
No forms to download
You don’t talk of despots
Nor current events
Your treasure’s not blocked
By electrical fence
The beauty of you
Is your simple design
I can open the door
Let my eyes roam the spines
Then I pick up a book
Filled with beautiful words
That release my dark thoughts
Like a flock of freed birds
This poem is copyright (©) Jenny Mattern 2025
About the Writer
Jenny Mattern
Jenny Mattern is a poet, a crafter of stories, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast living in Montana, USA, with her husband and children. She has had poems published in The Poetry Pea Anthology, Cold Moon Journal, The Solitary Daisy, and The Dirigible Balloon. She also writes middle-grade novels and is represented by Nicole Eisenbraun at Ginger Clark Literary Agency.
