Please, Poetry Library is a poetry library, reading room, and social space in Missoula, Montana. The library consists of ~1,000 poetry texts from national and international presses. It is a circulating library, meaning all books move freely from the space into the hands of people who check them out. The library is open to the public for browsing and hanging out thanks to our volunteer poetry librarians.  We host writing workshops, potlucks, readings, and evenings of performance.

We have been thinking with the key words “to gather” and “to circulate,” which are actions of both books in libraries and people. Daily, we begin in a place and move to other places, with many inbetweens. We think it’s important that the physical books and also the knowledge and camaraderie in the library exist to gather and circulate (and not say, gather and store or gather and hoard). We are interested in something like “use value.”  

The Please, Poetry Library is committed to being a project “held in common”— meaning that the shelves of books, the library space, and library events are resources accessible and managed by any and all desiring participants. We receive books by donation and share resources through the circulation of books and free use of our space. We in part pay for our space through a “work/trade” weekly dinner for our landlord, which we have opened up to our community to share in cooking/eating/recipe gathering.

This library seeks to be a public place of study, a common-shelf of knowledge. We have index cards and post-it notes and writing utensils, and it is our hope that donors and readers alike will leave traces of their reading experiences, so that we may think with each other, so that each other's perspectives and reading become a part of our own.

If you would like to contribute to the library or correspond about the radio show please (please!) send us an email: pleasepoetrylibrary@gmail.com

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