Anyway, midway through the film a discussion takes place between the characters played by Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey as one of them asks if the other knew who said, 'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars,' and to everyone's surprise, the other replies Oscar Wilde. That innocent moment in film reminded me what had occurred the day before at work. A youngish white man with a boyish face, a bit blemished, approached our reference desk and politely asked, a rarity indeed, if he could have his library card number by looking into his account. This request has become quite common with the rise in homeless population and/or opioid crisis engulfing the US. All of those problems were writ large on his face, especially eyes. After I said, welcomingly, "Of course! Can I have your last and first name please?" the fact that despite appearing and sounding not being fully there he wore his mask correctly, I further warmed up to him, and as I typed his last and then first name, mentioning his middle initials to extract a nod from him, I informed that his name read as if it belonged to a poet. I could not see his lip, only his eyes offering a smiling glint. Then I asked if he was a poet. He said, "I am!"
"Can you recite any one of your poems? I asked
He shook his head and I said that was okay. But as I wrote down his library card number on a piece of paper so he could use one of the library computers, I asked him if he could recognize who wrote the following verse:
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow/And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field
Do you know who wrote those lines?
Shakespeare, he said.
You're right, I acknowledged, as he walked away.
If I see him again at the library, I would like to tell him that a conversation between Geraldine Page and Laurence Harvey reminded me of him. I would also like to suggest to him that he memorize at least one poem of his for the sheer pleasure of hearing poetry.
