"Used Books"
by Sarah J
I like them dog-eared and lawnsoft,
and savor the character of winestain
and thumbsmudge,
the tear-warp between pages,
scrawl lolling down margins,
x's, question and check marks
scratched out as anchors.
They kindle affinity with readers
who've leafed through before, house
a kinship of signatures, conjuring towns
and streets in states I'll never visit.
They preach the economy of timber
and purses, while scribbled dates
evoke evenings spent couch-lounging
through past springs and winters.
Though they come off the press crisp
and unsullied, I like them used
for the gust of tinder and sawdust,
the waft of feathers adrift in a hayloft.
I turn the yellow hem of the pages,
a hue half neon, half tubercular,
like the wallpaper of a motel
nicotine-thick with confessions
where with the fray, I find repose
under covers well plumbed
and sepulchral.
i like this. deep thinking on something so simple. i have books that have names scribbled in them and it does make you wonder who sat and read them before you. I especially like old children books and see their names written to warn others that "this is my book". My first book was Lassie Come Home. I treasured it.
ReplyDeleteyeah, it's a good poem that really evoked what used books are all about. it made me think of the mobile library at Hughes Elizabeth Lakes Union School (HELUS!).
ReplyDeletebooks! what is it about them.
Also, funny what you said about what kids write in their books.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I agree with Empath. Used books have something that new, pristine ones don't. For me, it's partly about the smell, conjoured so well in ths poem. Although I love the smell of new books too and opening their virgin pages, so I guess it's more than that too. It's a cotinuation perhaps, the knowledge that the book was previously cherished by someone else.
ReplyDeleteI would have two sections in my library. I love new books, never opened since their pressing, pages as white as they will ever be, nothing bent or faded or breaking symmetry. I love matching series of new books all lined up like soldiers on my shelves even better.
ReplyDeleteBut then I loved used book stores, used books, old high-quality bindings, gilded page-edges, high-cotton content paper, pencil marks or doodles from a hand which held it long ago, the idea of how many people's possession it has passed through in all these years, the somewhat musty smell.
So, two libraries for me! Oh, maybe a third, where I can keep books I actually want to read, so I don't have to be neurotic and can dog-ear the pages or set them open and upside-down on the table whenever I want without feeling bad. Although I still don't think I would, just out of habit. I treat books like most people would treat a bomb or grenade or play that old board game "Operation." I know, I need help.
If you need help, then I do too. I could never leave a book open on a table, upside down or any other way.
ReplyDeleteSomehow that doesn't make me feel any better :P
ReplyDeleteI'll start looking around for specialists who deal with people like us...
I don't want to be treated! Books deserve respect.
ReplyDelete