CRESTVIEW — Folks visit the Crestview Public Library for many different reasons.
Some go to check out books and movies. Others attend youth, teen and adult programs. Some just love the atmosphere, being surrounded by great thoughts, concepts and stories.
And some seek inspiration for literary works of their own.
“A gentleman came in and used our computers to write a book of poetry,” Crestview Public Library Director Jean McCarthy said. “Then he recently returned and donated several copies of the published book to the library!”
Hugh A. Parker II published “The World’s Greatest Poems,” a slim volume of reflections that reflect his spirituality and connectivity with nature. Published by Page Publishing, the work is sumptuously and colorfully illustrated by Melissa Santiago.
“As a man of this world and of God’s Spirit, it is my soul’s duty to stand up for this world and all of our people,” Parker wrote in a letter inserted in the front of one of the copies of the book.
Pieces the poet composed at the library include the whimsical “A Frog named Moe,” the heartfelt “The Color of Love,” the hopeful “The Flower of Summer and Spring,” the spiritual “The Raindrop,” and the reflective “Brighter than Gold.”
The dedication in the back of the volume says in part, “To my World with Love.”
For a quick summer read, pop by the Crestview Public Library and relish the poetry — and world — of Hugh A. Parker’s “The World’s Greatest Poems.”
To learn what else your library has to offer, including books of poetry, visit www.cityofcrestview.org/178/Library, call 850-682-4432, and follow the library on Facebook and Instagram.
Brian Hughes is the city of Crestview's public Information officer.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Check It Out: Poetry collection written at library now available there