Who doesn’t love a little sparkle? I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t love a sparkling something for Valentine’s Day. But add a bit of sugar and it’s the sweetest gift your sweetie can give! This Valentine’s Day, follow Cupid’s arrow to local jewelry stores to find some sweets for your sweet.

Double Dutch

Going Dutch was never so charming as these Pennsylvania Dutch-inspired necklaces and earrings. Silver cut-out Dutch hearts and Distlefinks make something kitschy like a hex sign so cool.

Skylark Jewelry by Karen Stanford, Dutch Heart Necklace, $89.

Skylark Jewelry by Karen Stanford, Heart Earrings, $22.50

All available at Hello Blue Bird, 609 Penn Ave., West Reading; 610.750.6642; www.hellobluebird.net.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels by Unique Pretzels, 215 E. Bellevue Ave., Reading; 610.929.3172; www.uniquesplits.com.

So (Semi) Sweet

You’ll have her heart with this simple but sweet silver bracelet.With the perfect amount of sparkle, this sweet treat is something that your Valentine can wear every day.

Sorrelli, Sweet Heart Bracelet, $66.

Available at Sorrelli, 220 W. Main St., Kutztown; 610.894.9857; www.sorrelli.com.

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Bar from www.dylanscandybar.com.

Photo by Dr. John Pankratz

Berks County Living invites you to enjoy the following poems by Craig Czury, who was honored with the title of Berks County Poet Laureate in October 2010. He will serve in the position until his term ends in 2012.Reading Area Community College (RACC) sponsors the laureateship to cultivate literary arts in the region. Craig earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing and creative nonpoetry from Wilkes University in 2008. He teaches at Albright College and runs an ongoing poetry and memoir course at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading.Berks County’s new Poet Laureate has published 20 books. They have been translated into many languages, including Italian, Spanish, Lithuanian, Albanian, Croatian and Russian. With the funding he’s received to promote poetry throughout Berks County, including a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, he has hosted workshops at homeless shelters, prisons, mental hospitals, senior centers, preschools and libraries.To contact Craig Czury, e-mail him at craigczury@gmail.com. See the full story about Craig by writer Jennifer Hetrick on page 8 in the February issue of BCL.

Alphabet Books

we play a game with books like dominoes

spread out on the floor

you arrange one behind or alongside another

I arrange one

we take turns and ponder

until each book together forms letters of the alphabet

until no book is left to play

we discover words

Craig Czury, from In My Silence To Justify, 2003