{"id":34255,"date":"2021-08-18T16:13:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T06:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=34255"},"modified":"2021-08-18T16:13:34","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T06:13:34","slug":"borders-is-closing-a-saturday-afternoon-and-the-passing-of-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=34255","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBorders is Closing (A Saturday afternoon; and the passing of a friend.)\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Derelict
\nI will miss the smell of books.
\nBound paper. Ink on a page.
\nAnd their coffee.
\nA place to sit, on Pacific Avenue
\nout of the rain
\nand write.
\nIt was my version of
\nHemingway\u2019s \u201cclean, well-lighted place\u201d
\n(without the despair, loneliness
\nor nihilistic taint.)
\nThere is something that feels sacred
\nabout a repository of books
\nfor sale or not.
\nAnd Borders was one
\nof the places where
\nfrom time to time
\nI went to write, to peruse
\nand to wonder at
\nthe thoughts of others.
\nStacks of friends-in-paper
\nof like minds
\nor not.
\nA place to go, and touch pages.
\nTo stand in the lighted space, and feel
\nsmooth
\npaper beneath my fingertips.
\nAnd feel the words
\nof others
\nin my eyes.
\nIt\u2019s not that I mind Amazon
\nor Kindle or Nook
\nand the like.
\nI\u2019ve shopped the pixel places
\nbut
\nthere is something holy about
\n\u201cthe bookstore\u201d
\nas an intersection of intellectual
\npathways.
\nA nexus.
\nA springboard of
\ndimensional collaboration.
\nIts occupants were literate.
\nThirsty for
\nwords.
\nCapable of considering
\nthe ideas of another in order to
\nreach the lofty places \u2013 the great open places in
\ntheir minds.
\nOr simply to scratch the itch
\nof curiosity.
\nI wonder if the Library at
\nAlexandria
\nwas like that
\nbefore it was sacked.
\n— Graves 10\/18\/14<\/p>\n

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 \u201cReflections on a Crystal Wind\u201d (which is also pretty good) at:
\nhttps:\/\/www.michaelgravespoet.com\/<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK OF MY POETRY! (it’s easy):
\n1) Just click this link. https:\/\/hugohousebookstore.com\/product\/messages-bottle-paperback\/
\n2) Then, click on the button that says: Free E-Book \u201cA Glimpse Beyond\u201d.
\n3) Download onto your phone, iPad or computer. \u201cA Glimpse Beyond\u201d downloads in Kindle, iBooks and other formats for your convenience.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 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.<\/p>\n

Find more of Michael Graves’ poetry on MeWe at:
\nhttps:\/\/mewe.com\/p\/michaelgraves-poet<\/p>\n

And on Instagram at: #mg_poet<\/p>\n

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\u00d710 film, making her minuscule creations \u2014 measuring about 20 x 24 x 72 inches \u2014 appear nearly indistinguishable from full-size scenes.<\/p>\n

More information here:
\nhttps:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/1662890\/lori-nixs-stunning-tiny-dioramas-depict-an-abandoned-world-slideshow#9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s \u201cclean, well-lighted place\u201d (without the despair, loneliness or nihilistic taint.) There is something that feels sacred about a repository of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “\u201cBorders is Closing (A Saturday afternoon; and the passing of a friend.)\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-inspiration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34257,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34255\/revisions\/34257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}