Susan Kumar is a public librarian who helps young people find their voice through articulating their concerns and passion. She works in her hometown, across the river from New York City. As a former visual artist, Susan envisions words as delicate, meaningful and precise. She works to utilize her vision in her work and life.

 

IN MEMORIAM

Our Mayor spoke as a good man, great to many with respect.
He gave those who gave back more than they could,
His nose knew by heart when something smelled not right -
And when he told her several times that one was posturing,
This one moved with more evil than best intent,
She counted the ways he scored the target right.
They could not pull the wool over his eyes, so as he marked,
he foiled them, he was so spent.
More than one time the Mayor met her as a friend,
Advancing an agenda one small step at one time,
another step later to be sewn into a considerable comfort
for the town, contemplated carefully before raising threads
further.

Her Mayor was a good man, a great many respects
Deserving lasting praise. It seemed he was invincible, yet his heart spoke
Finally, no longer in it, and determined to push on,
though without the beat to finish.
Miss our Mayor - he moved with a wider scope,
A picture beyond the Bridge, nested in Borough Hall.
His sights set on years out, when the sidewalk crevasses were
Filled and no longer garbling gossip and innuendo.

The Mayor met her as a friend to his son, some one
He'd counted to make a difference with favor
To his people. He made them proud, they straightened up,
They might make some difference. When were they counted on so
softly, smoothly to move within the beat? Shed light on his town,
in step within the crowd? They thought not before of such a one or all,
as here now, humbled by his Honor.