Grit in the Gears

I am the grit in the gears, the missing bolt, I am the poker of sticks into spokes. I like to know how things work, but sometimes when I take them apart and rebuild them, I have a few pieces left over. I am a man, so I tend to leave reading the instructions until after it goes wrong. And like all men I have a comprehensive mental map of the world and never need to ask directions. I never get lost, only sometimes I'm late, or end up in the wrong place entirely. It's what we do.

Monday, 13 August 2012

On Books.

To Posterity

When books have all seized up like the books in graveyards
And reading and even speaking have been replaced
By other, less difficult, media, we wonder if you
Will find in flowers and fruit the same colour and taste
They held for us for whom they were framed in words,
And will your grass be green, your sky be blue,
Or will your birds be always wingless birds?

Louis MacNeice, Visitations (1957).

I'll post more, on another day. Need to go to bed now. Beautiful bookshop, visited yesterday.
Also castles and stuff.
Really really tired now, so will do it another day.

4 comments:

red dirt girl13 August 2012 at 18:36
A bookstore that actually quotes books ... how marvelous!

xxx
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Adullamite14 August 2012 at 03:00
O to have a decent bookshop here......
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Relax Max14 August 2012 at 20:18
I'm sorry you were so tired on this one. But now I get to read all about your visit on today's post.
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Relax Max15 August 2012 at 18:47
Actually, I thought ALL stores were stationary. But then, this is an old train station...

Which is to say I loved your play on words. :)
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