An Earth-Day-and-World-Book-Day Bloem

By Maryann Henck

Nature doesn’t real­ly care whether there are human beings or not.
I’m sor­ry to break this to you.
- Mar­garet Atwood

I’m not sure what I need to com­ment on first – the bloem or that wry, news­flashy quote. Let’s start off with the easy things first – the quote. Cana­di­an envi­ron­men­tal activist and con­tem­po­rary Scheherazade, Mar­garet Atwood, real­ly knows how to dri­ve her point home and reverse per­spec­tives. Isn’t it utter­ly refresh­ing to hear Nature’s point-of-view? Although She may not care about our exis­tence, we should def­i­nite­ly be con­cerned about Hers – espe­cial­ly on Her spe­cial day – April 22 – a.k.a. Earth Day!

Now you might be won­der­ing what a bloem is or maybe you’ve already guessed by now that it’s a port­man­teau or a blend – a word formed by clip­ping two words and then merg­ing them: blog + poem = bloem. If you ask me, it’s quite a sim­ple equa­tion and an appro­pri­ate trib­ute to World Book Day, which hap­pens to be on April 23. If you’re inter­est­ed in words, lit­er­a­ture, the future of books, and their con­nec­tion to the envi­ron­ment – for there is one – then you are cor­dial­ly invit­ed to sam­ple my bloem, “The Future of the Library: The Future Library,” which serves as an appe­tiz­er for the main course, an inter­view with Mar­garet Atwood about this fas­ci­nat­ing lit­er­ary and envi­ron­men­tal project.

The Future of the Library: The Future Library
By Maryann Henck

In the dig­i­tal age
It’s tru­ly all the rage
To fire up your Kindle
And let those paper­backs dwindle.
Just imag­ine a few years from now
Words on cel­lu­lose might cease to wow.
Ema­ci­at­ed libraries will gnaw on e‑books
Though print­ing press­es had been the bet­ter cooks.
Will the future of the library be left up to the Fates?
And those paper trea­sures trapped eter­nal­ly in dire straits?
Not if the Future Library grows over the years
A project cre­at­ed to allay booklovers’ fears
That one day the print­ed page will cease to exist
Should we fail the aid of green writ­ers to enlist
Who will cre­ate books that with­stand the test of time
And hide them away so they stay in their prime
To be print­ed and read a hun­dred years down the line
From a thou­sand trees of Nor­we­gian wood so fine
Plant­ed in the woods of Nord­mar­ka for a good cause
The vision­ary Mar­garet Atwood agreed with­out pause
To com­pose the first piece for this bril­liant endeavor
In the hope that books will live on forever

And now for that inter­view between the Berlin-based Scot­tish artist and project cre­ator, Katie Pater­son, and the project’s first con­trib­u­tor, Mar­garet Atwood – Just click here for the whole sto­ry. Enjoy!

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