There's something wonderful about happening upon a musician playing for his or her own pleasure, completely absorbed in the music. Jeff Daniel Marion is a fine poet from east Tennessee. And here's a woman playing the bagpipes.

Playing to the River

She stands by the riverbank,

notes from her bagpipes lapping

across to us as we wait

It pains an old booklover like me to think of somebody burning a book, but if you've gotten one for a quarter and it's falling apart, well, maybe it's OK as long as you might be planning to pick up a better copy.

Here Ron Koertge, who lives in Pasadena, Calif., has some fun with the ashes of love poems.

Burning the Book

The anthology of love poems I bought

Starting today, the library is hosting a series of events related to common courtesy, manners and respectfulness during Champaign's Civility Week. Check our website for details and note: It's cool to be kind.

The activities begin today with our kickoff concert. David Howie premieres the new "Civility" song, written just for this celebration and initiative.

Lee Gutkind is the founder and editor of the magazine Creative Nonfiction. In his latest book, "You Can't Make This Stuff Up," Gutkind introduces readers to the genre, provides real-life examples and explains the difference between fiction, straight nonfiction and creative nonfiction.

He also instructs people on how to write creative nonfiction if they are interested in pursuing it.