The Paul Cummins poetry room  Crossroads School was created as a place to archive the founder's extensive poetry collection for students to enjoy and create poetry of their own.

Todd Baron, a career educator and poet, has taught at Crossroads for 25 years. His most recent books include As Yet and TV EYE (both from Chax Press.)

Before the transformation to a poetry room, LOC was presented with an unused windowless room in the existing Crossroads library.

LOC began by inserting a plywood wrapper to host the desired program.

Paul Cummins' 4000 volume poetry collection was inserted into this wrapper.

In order to create an inviting space, furniture was added for places to sit, contemplate, and experience the poetry.

A construction photo showing the insertion of the plywood wrapper.

A view of the room showing the number of different ways to experience the collection.

The floor cushions provide a way to accommodate many students on the floor, and the cubes by ply furniture provide additional storage and seating.

The plywood wrapper hosts a bench as well as the poetry collection.

The experience of contemplation within the Paul Cummins poetry room.