I will miss the smell of books.
Bound paper. Ink on a page.
And their coffee.
A place to sit, on Pacific Avenue
out of the rain
and write.
It was my version of
Hemingway’s “clean, well-lighted place”
(without the despair, loneliness
or nihilistic taint.)
There is something that feels sacred
about a repository of books
for sale or not.
And Borders was one
of the places where
from time to time
I went to write, to peruse
and to wonder at
the thoughts of others.
Stacks of friends-in-paper
of like minds
or not.
A place to go, and touch pages.
To stand in the lighted space, and feel
smooth
paper beneath my fingertips.
And feel the words
of others
in my eyes.
It’s not that I mind Amazon
or Kindle or Nook
and the like.
I’ve shopped the pixel places
but
there is something holy about
“the bookstore”
as an intersection of intellectual
pathways.
A nexus.
A springboard of
dimensional collaboration.
Its occupants were literate.
Thirsty for
words.
Capable of considering
the ideas of another in order to
reach the lofty places – the great open places in
their minds.
Or simply to scratch the itch
of curiosity.
I wonder if the Library at
Alexandria
was like that
before it was sacked.
— Graves 10/18/14
I am happy to announce that my book “Messages in a Bottle: Communications to My Future Self” took one of the top awards given by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in 2018. Find out more about it, and about my book “Reflections on a Crystal Wind” (which is also pretty good) at:
https://www.michaelgravespoet.com/
DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK OF MY POETRY! (it’s easy):
1) Just click this link. https://hugohousebookstore.com/product/messages-bottle-paperback/
2) Then, click on the button that says: Free E-Book “A Glimpse Beyond”.
3) Download onto your phone, iPad or computer. “A Glimpse Beyond” downloads in Kindle, iBooks and other formats for your convenience.
Copyright © 2014 by Michael Graves, All Rights Reserved, except the right to forward and to share with friends – with credit — which is held to be a good idea and is thus encouraged.
Find more of Michael Graves’ poetry on MeWe at:
https://mewe.com/p/michaelgraves-poet
And on Instagram at: #mg_poet
The image is of one of the tiny detailed dioramas that artist Lori Nix designed for her post-apocalyptic vision. She built the 3-D scenes in her living room on nights and weekends with the help of an assistant, with each one taking anywhere from two to fifteen months to complete. Nix then shot the dioramas on normal 8×10 film, making her minuscule creations — measuring about 20 x 24 x 72 inches — appear nearly indistinguishable from full-size scenes.
More information here:
https://www.fastcompany.com/1662890/lori-nixs-stunning-tiny-dioramas-depict-an-abandoned-world-slideshow#9