This is my poetry shelf in my office:

On the top shelf is collectible decanter and four glasses purchased from the Franklin Mint during the American bicentennial, which celebrated America’s 200th birthday (1996).

On the second shelf is a Bulgarian stacking doll (Does anyone know the correct term for these dolls?) a friend gave me after her trip to Europe, a “Teacher” appreciation card with two hand-dipped candles attached from one of my favorite former students (She came through in 2009.) It is perched atop various collections of poetry by poets like Maya Angelou, a signed Margaret Atwood (a gift from a friend), a book on writing haiku, and other smaller poetry books. To the right are the larger books: Shel Silverstein, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, and a couple of others. Standing upright at the far right, poetry anthologies from college courses and some anthologies too tall to stand up on the shelf. In the foreground are, a bronze cat, which was a gift from my mother; a blown glass cat, a gift from a friend who went to Peru, and the business card of an artist, former student Jacq.

Peeking from underneath is the backboard of my desk, decorated by a sign for my performance at a primary school for Read Across America Day, flanked by an authentic Taiwanese prayer flag display and on the far right, facing inward a student-framed- gift-copy of my teaching motto, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”(Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life.) On the far left, a play on Churchill’s poster from WWII parodied, reading “Keep Calm and Teach On.”

Who could not get good work done surrounded by such an environment?

(I saw this idea first on O.D.’s Book Reviews over a year ago and have been wanting to do one ever since.)

A “shelfie” could be a shelf of books TBR, a shelf just read, or a shelf you have read and are keeping. Challenge: SHOW US YOUR SHELFIE! Post your blog address below and let us have a look.