This past weekend was a melancholy time for me. It marked the ninth anniversary of the Haysville tornado. As I stood in the Historic District on Saturday for a tree planting ceremony, I was struck with a profound sadness and hope all at the same time. My thoughts leaped back to May 3rd, 1999 and the devastation and interruption to so many lives. And at the same time were mixed with thoughts of hope and future and new. I could stand in one place and see a piece of metal roofing wedged in a tree next to the Wire House left from the May 3rd event and simultaneously see the foundation for the new Haysville Library as it emerges out of the ground. Past and present in one place.

I am not going to write my whole article on the pain and angst and disruption that came with the tornado but given the news coverage of the Greensburg anniversary, it seemed only appropriate to comment on the significance of the devastation those many years ago to Haysville and South Wichita. Truthfully, I am trying to live by Eckart Tolle’s words from his book the ‘The New Earth’ where he challenges us to live in the ‘now’.

This Friday at midnight, I will be reading at my 15th straight Haysville Library read-a-thon. As always, I will be reading a selection of Edgar Allen Poe’s poems culminating with ‘The Raven’. Years ago, I picked midnight because it was the one time I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to get stuck at Target helping a customer and make it late to my commitment. Since then, it has just become a tradition.

The one downside to that time slot is drawing an audience. Other than a few diehards and library volunteers, I have generally read to the night and the spirits of ages past. You know I really like to play to a crowd so the lack of poetic patronage could be debilitating. Could be he says. Yup, but I haven’t let it get me down. Something about the angled thoughts and lyric meter of Poe always gets me going.

With all that said, I am inviting everyone to join me Friday night around 11:30 pm at the Library for my interpretations of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s better works. And if you like what you hear, maybe a donation to the new library would be appropriate. I am sure Betty, Zoe and the friends of the Haysville Library would be OK with that.

Keep the kids up a little later, ask a neighbor, call mom and dad ... but stop by and support the Library, enjoy some neighborly time and save me from reciting to the dark and gloomy plutonic night. Quote the Raven nevermore. Thanks for letting me get a ‘word in edgewise’.   -TN