"I Was In Barnes And Noble..."

just a view from another kind of curb

"I was in Barnes and Noble..."

 

Paper, paper      every …where…

breathless forgottens

sallow shalls, nightless flights,

sunless empires;

glistenings shimmerings

plastique whimperings

shelved and floor-stacked

curled, curved, some-life tumbled

abandoned - pause-dropped

breath-stopped

each and all     just-so-many-bits-for

me’s.

 

All the Nooks and grannies,

footworn carpets for aisleworn lives

for life-torn eyes

...so many seemed paused…

lost-in-place

over so many thoughtlets bondings - blindings

books’ bindings …opened

pages - handled

turned

bindings closed - returned

dog-eared, wrinkled-crinkled

barely considered …thoughts,

saydream-mares

to shelves

to stacks

to piles of visceral images soon

then now …forgotten… once more.

 

Ghostlets

all faded realities

somehow still ...wandering, moving

existing within perceptions -

light      bent to curious shapes

ways, shadows, and forms -

thoughts ...flowing, floating

cascading, pulling, pooling

swirling-turning-joining - becoming

more

...and less.

 

People -

a visual visceral perceptual

that some might have had themselves

…once upon a time...

but the eyes were lost

searching. staring...

wondering, wandering.

 

A couple of children

sparkled

BREATHED

made ...noise -

were "...hushed..."

I cried inside ...silently.

 

Electronic registers track,

echo across the world

with each click

the thoughts being bagged

taken

...and lost.

 

Chris

Author's Note

There ARE NO type or word "Oh's" - I checked MORE than once. Sooooooo, what you see is what I intended.

feel free

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i hate the idea that books may become obsolete...and i miss how barnes and noble used to be...i think now they are too much of a corporation...i spend hours in a little used books store in carbondale...Bookworm...

such an atmosphere and all the old books on the shelves...

i refuse vehemently to read an E-book.

this poem moves this old book lover.

jacob

[Chris]

Glad you paused Jacob, thanks man

[Beccy]

Like my father, I have long been a 'real book' fan and both he and I take every opportunity to browse, particularly in second hand book shops. They seem to bring to life those who previously turned the pages.

Loved this... Beccy.

[Evita]

I really do Love this! The flow, assonance, alliteration...I am a huge fan of poetry that sounds beautiful! I feel that Barnes & Noble is too proper for the type of bookstore feel that this poem elicits from me. Although, by the end I felt that the poem was impressing that store chains like Barnes & Noble cater to a type of customer that moves with the masses in roaming the bookstore or buying certain books. And it is only children and a few others that still have the imagination to look for things out of the norm, the safe... I don't know what your intent was, especially after reading your "Author's Note" and still not understanding why "grannies" is not crannies... :)

[Chris]

Both "Nooks" and "Grannies" were real and also puns being made. The Nook is a Barnes and Noble e-reader. The inside the store kiosk holding the devices had "Grannies" in line that were asking about and buying the things as Xmas presents. As for "crannies", that was mind-implied and most-commonly a given without my having to actually write the word down. SO - knowing the reader would most likely add "crannies" and then consciously correct it to my word - "grannies" - I did get the benefit of saying and yet WITHOUT saying ye olde cliche.

The Author's Note was to let the reader know that my choice of words was specific and not accidental, hence there were no author unobserved nor unintended words or spellings. I did recheck AFTER posting to ensure what I intended made it to the screen.

B&N is NOT a "Mom and Pop" owned little corner bookstore. It is a corporate entity. But its customers make it the "magykal” gathering place for touching so many "stars" and dreams.

[Kenneth The Poet]

Unlike electronics, books can't break very easily unless you physically mangle them or set them ablaze. Sold by corporate interests or independently, books in printed form will stand the test of time.

[Corset]

There are some poets that effect you so profoundly that you can only read them from behind a wall, you are one of those poets, I always have to "suit up" before I come to read you my friend or i will be a puddle on the floor before I leave, a primordial ooze flowing to /with the least resistance, water and tears do that, take the path of least resistance.

[Chris]

Quietly breathes... you'd make a nice puddle.

[Corset]

I'd make a nice mess, as I always seem to do, if you are catching any overflow. Lost a friend recently, Shmoke shifter, did you know him? So sad lately, I wanted to check in with you,
loss does that, makes you take stock of important stuff.

[Chris]

The one thing life guarantees is that fewer of our 'friends' will be there the next 'days'. Sometimes (for ourselves) we recognize our own mortality and make "adjustments" to reflect that understanding. I'm glad you came by to check, you are welcome to stay a bit anytime.

[Corset]

Thank you for that my friend.

[icelandicblue]

I love the smell of an old book and of new books. I love to crack the virgin spine of a book. I miss Borders...on Friday nights they'd had live music, poetry readings and children propped against poles covered in rugs reading or being read to. They became victims of technology and now they are but a memory (and I have no great love for corporations but this one was different). Recently I heard an argument not to fix our library because books would soon be obsolete. That struck a cord of fear straight into my heart and cortex. Yet here I am writing my thoughts on a computer and not in a worn journal and I cannot help but think that someday the papered book will be an artifact in a museum. I am happy to have lived in a time when I knew them, loved them and was comforted by them. It's a wonderful poem Chris.

[Chris]

I sooooooooo agree. Thank you for saying what is felt by so very many. A Kindle White is nice but I'ld rather turn my own pages AND books don't need batteries when there is a foot of snow on the ground and you have the candles lit because the power went out.

[Susannah Rae]

this is beautiful, i particularly enjoyed the gait this piece takes on when it's read out loud. great work!

[Chris]

I'm still listening to your thoughts... they echo - ya know?

[Lucifer Jones]

*smiling* A wonderful painting of a daily scene in anyone's life... I would love to hear this spoken/read... it's written in a manner that I feel I can hear a voice tell me the story. Very nice. Loved it thoroughly.

Oh loved this one Chris, there are so many moments, in moments, and so many of those we catch.... or can't catch, a great write which shows us, there happens, always a thing, everywhere, on every time, on every place... interesting.

- Elisa

[Joiedevivre]

superb, especially loved the first stanza which i read several times.