6. All and Sundry Stories

Cherry

By Ewan

Tue, 24 Oct 2017
  • 1918 reads
5 comments
 

 

All and sundry stories lived among the leaves

of wood-pulped products from paper factories,

since blown away by the binary wind

and burned in the kindle fire.

 

The stories are different now,

all different and all the same:

products of other downloaded

how-to be a writer TODAY

cut-and-paste

crap.

 

Ours is the kindle-dom

the money

and the glory

that was print

and the grandeur

that was tomes.

 

The glue has dried in the spines

and every book is as swaybacked

as the most broken jade

no longer needed at the factory

to make what holds the pages in.

 

And every final door slam

of every library closed

is as the death knell

of the cracked bell

of literacy.

 

“Save your local library!”

 

I tried, I used it once,

years ago, I could not find

the book I wanted.

The catalogue entry read

“permanently withdrawn”

as if the book were a privilege revoked

and not a right.

They offered me a password

and a user's account and

advice to stop reading

every twenty minutes

and stand up

and walk around

the shelves empty

of books and full

of bookmarks

for sale

as souvenirs

or antiques.

 

And such volumes as are bought

are sold in limited edition

to men of high position,

modern Medicis, Borgias and Fuggers,

who hoard them uncut, on gilded shelves,

to reflect their opinion of themselves.

 

Meanwhile, the King of Little Songbirds

is reading in his tub,

ogling glossy pictures

as he gives himself a rub.

It’s the last paper publication

in the ga-ga,la-la land,

he is tweeting ill-spelt venom

with the other busy hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Certificate PG
Poem
Chain
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

my local library seems to be mostly a cafe now. It's frightening how fast they've changed. I like this one Ewan

 

Submitted by airyfairy on

I like the cafe in my local library.  It's cheap and welcoming.  I like the fact that the library gives people access to computers when otherwise they wouldn't have it.  I like the fact they have squashy cushion things in the children's bit.  I just wish they had some more books.  A lot more books.  And I wish it was still called 'Library' rather than 'Explore'.  And I wish someone still stamped my books rather than me swiping them in a thing that looks like that x-ray machine kids' shoe shops had when I was little.   

Submitted by Ewan on

"all progress is change, but not all change is progress" - me, just now, or somebody that I've forgotten reading, from a book I once borrowed from a library.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Ewan

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Yep. I joined my local one, here. It took me two years. The librarian was so passionate that I thought she might burst into tears explaining the services to me. It has many books and periodicals, not to mention a research facility, music, video, newspapers, online etc. I feel they ought to erect a sign saying ANGLO-AMERICAN NEOLIBERALISM: KEEP OUT!

Parson Thru

Submitted by PoppyS on

My local libary has become the visitor centre, a place for meetings, (no cafe yet) a warm place for people to go and read the papers, which are all good, but there are less and less books each year.
When I first joined I asked for the poetry section, which met with huge amusement, they had the grand total of 4 books.

I like progress, but there is nothing to beat opening a book and deciding whether to take it home and delve into the pages. I loved the library as a kid, it gave me escapism both from things at home as well as the words on the pages.

Thanks for the 'flash back' also made me remember the smell of the highly polished floors.

Pops ~xx~

Writing is art in pictures – Go paint poetry!