Press your nose
into the pulpy pages
of an old book
breathe in
the sweet smell
of proud trees
roots
the damp secrets
of earth
smell the truth
of the past
savor old souls
close your eyes
and read them alive
again
©Charles Ghigna 2010
Random House logo
12 comments:
"breathe in the sweet smell of proud trees. (ah, Ilove that)"
"and savor old souls" (that too)
I do! I do! How did you know?
Love this!
read them alive/
again
I love that! It really brings home how active reading is and how it brings whole subjects/worlds/people to life (and makes the trees' sacrifice worthwhile:>)
What a marvelous poem with echoes of "a red wheelbarrow".
Laura Evans
>>close your eyes
and read them alive<<
Beautiful! Thanks so much.
Carmela
TeachingAuthors
I love old books! Now I love them even more!
Love this. "Read them alive again" is stunning!
Read those words alive.
I thought since you enjoy poetry that I'd invite you to contribute your list of favorite poems to my survey. Read more about it here: http://www.semicolonblog.com/?p=9520
Thank you all for dropping by with your kind comments about "The Smell of Old Books" poem. Appreciate it!
Thank you, Sherry, for inviting us to check out your blog of favorite poems. There's a list of all-time favorite poetry anthologies for children at the FATHER GOOSE blog dating back to the 1800's. The list is toward the bottom of the right-hand column.
Hi, Charles-
I especially like the suggestion that an old book may be so familiar that you can close your eyes and read it alive. I've been feeling that way reading my childhood copy of "Now We Are Six" to my son: I open my mouth and out comes my mother's voice.
The scent of old books is one of my favorite things in all the world. Wonderful piece and reached out and grabbed me. Thank you.
Oops, I commented with my secondary blog profile.
This one's from my main blog, Life at Willow Manor.
Your poetry is delightful.
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