L. J. Carber | + Follow Poet |
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The Lonely Book

I took a book out of the library
where it must have stood amidst
its brethren for 25 years, unused,
unborrowed-- I know this because
its pages were crisp, never bent
by a greedy reader, and not yellow
from time's effect, a drug that
ages books as it does readers....

Someday I guess all books, both
the virgins and the overly used,
even abused, will be no more: all
replaced by sterile zeros & ones,
and my future self will never again
have the soft pleasure of turning
endless pages, feeling tangible
the words of some distant mind.

Copyright © L. J. Carber | Year Posted 2017

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Darlene De Beaulieu Date: 10/22/2017 8:50:00 PM Oh.. L. J. Carber, not to be able to touch a book ,is unheard of. I enjoy to touch the pages of the book. turning pages after pages,I enjoy to do. Taking my time to enjoy what I read. Have a nice evening my friend. Login to Reply Darlene De Beaulieu Date: 10/25/2017 3:23:00 PM Yes i am a book lover and always will be. Have a nice day my friend. L. J. Carber Date: 10/23/2017 9:35:00 AM Thank you Darlene-- I'm surprised at the response the poem is eliciting; there must still be a few book lovers left after all!

Robert Lindley Date: 10/16/2017 7:23:00 PM I LOVE THIS INSIGHTFUL POEM. I am a book collector, hardback first editions. I live the contents, look , feel and smell of the books written in the 1800's. Some books, I feel connected to the first moment I touch them.... A fav my friend. Login to Reply L. J. Carber Date: 10/17/2017 9:48:00 AM Thank you, Robert. It's strange the comfort a book lover gets just from having books around. Perhaps because they are symbolic of our unique human ability to transcend.

Maureen McGreavy Pigeon Tart Date: 10/14/2017 11:03:00 PM Wonderful :) fave xomo Login to Reply L. J. Carber Date: 10/15/2017 11:25:00 AM Thank you Maureen!

Sunlite Wanter Date: 10/14/2017 6:11:00 PM So glad you expressed this. I am torn because I feel as you do about the feel of a book, but someone gave me a Kindle for Christmas 3-4 years ago and I have loved that, too. Login to Reply L. J. Carber Date: 10/15/2017 11:28:00 AM Thanks, Sunlite-- I too am ambivalent about cybernetic progress--I can see its 'perils', but I sure wish I had had word-processing in college: would have made things much easier. Well, everything in life is a trade-off.