Ariel Magin- Week 18 Pick-A-Poet Dick Allen "The Adult Section"

     The Adult Section is another reminder of why I enjoy Dick Allen’s poetry so much. It reads like a book, not like some pretentious poem trying to confuse the reader. Anyways, the subject matter is much more PG than I initially anticipated. The poem is about a child who is 11 finally able to access the adult section of the library. He is taken aback by the sheer quantity of books and size which seemed to be able to “crush two babies with one blow.” Now that’s not a very nice thought. 

    The whole poem is from a childlike perspective as seen by the description of the towering shelves and “those huge stern books.” The kid takes us on a journey of an important event in his life. It can be inferred that he is in this library quite often, so he must’ve been looking forward to being able to enter the adult section for a while. The experience is almost mystical for him as at one point he hears the books calling out “seek wisdom, seek wisdom, seek wisdom, seek wisdom, seek wisdom.” Now of course the books didn’t actually call out to him, but childlike wonder often adds bits of fantasy to moments such as these. At the end of his visit, the boy checked out six books, the maximum, and carried them out into the world triumphantly “sure that the weight of the world had come into [his] arms.” The fearful and anticipatory entry into the adult section, the wonder and appreciation of the books, and the acceptance of the task at hand all metaphorically stood for this boy’s entry into adulthood.