Thursday, October 22, 2009

very good condition

You may have noticed on my sidebar, I mention reading Charles Simic Selected Early Poems, which I recently ordered through Amazon. I decided to be frugal and order a used copy for $3.99. It was listed in "very good condition", but when it arrived, I found notes had been written throughout, words crossed out and circled. I don't mind an occasional charming note in the margin, but this one had been butchered. This makes me cringe, like fingernails on a chalkboard. I think from now on, I'll only buy used copies if I can see them first. Now don't get me wrong, there are times when I enjoy artistic graffiti, just not in my books. Anyway, I had fun writing the following poem.



Very Good Condition


The first had been chopped and diced,
drawn and quartered,
butchered by someone
who drew little circles to dot their i's.

Someone cut Charles Simic down to size.

They made no bones about
pushing a poet laureate
through the meat grinder,
taking a pound of flesh
from the block, fresh and pink.

At the table, they mocked his diction,
and dined on generous helpings
of circled lines, labeled fiction.

You know what I think?
Never trust purple ink.



willow, October 2009

82 comments:

  1. I gave up ordering on Alibris.com after the books I purchased, which were described as "minor shelf wear only", were written in, underlined and used to pieces. And this was from a highly rated seller! It's not worth the few dollars in savings.

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  2. I am a huge fan of Amazon's used book service. I've received wonderful copies of hard to find books that way.

    I noticed you are listening to Fleet Foxes. Aren't they great. Sort of a cross between Neil Young and the Beach Boys, I think.

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  3. Pamela, I've been ordering from Amazon for years, new and used books. This is the first time I've been really disappointed.

    Yes, Fleet Foxes are so fun!! :D

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  4. It certainly sounds like the book's condition was misrepresented. You should let Amazon know.

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  5. I agree that you really want to make your own notes
    not read someone else's!
    You should alert the seller to your disappointment.

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  6. i'll admit, i write all over my books...especially if phrases grab me, but not to sell. that stinks, would definitely make note with amazon. nice verse.

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  7. I actually love it when I find notes written in books-It tells me that the book was well loved and used before it exchanged hands :D
    It's also incredibly interesting to find what other people think about the book and subject matter.
    That's why I love to buy used textbooks :D

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  8. EE, I don't normally mind notes in the margins, but many of these poems were nearly unreadable with all the circles, lines and arrows. This person went nuts!

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  9. I do prefer my poetry books unadorned with the thoughts & markings of earlier readers, but I've made exceptions. However, the condition wasn't accurate. Some good poems in that book tho--your verse was fun.

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  10. I've had great finds in used books and, especially in books on tape - I can't even drive a block without one in my car - but I wouldn't hesitate a second, if one arrived having been misrepresented, to let the seller know my dismay!

    Great poem...but, alas, I used purple ink from time to time!!! I LOVE purple!

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  11. way to kick some butt willow!!! i sometimes order used materials - and honestly, i've never been disappointed. but i find it very difficult to accept reading anything that has been annotated by mr. or ms. grumpy with pencil pen or whatever.
    fleet foxes are wickedgood aren't they.
    hugs out to the manor folk. steven

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  12. I will have to read a book someday! I read about one a year! I am so uncultured!

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  13. Buying used books profits only the sellers. Buying new means the author makes a few coins.

    Who's more important, authors or sellers?

    I buy only new books.

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  14. Oops! Please don't take it personally RNsane! :D

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  15. Love the poem! When I was a student I used to deliberately look for books with the most notes in the margins, but now I prefer to form my own opinions. I think very highly of my own opinions anyway & usually disagree with others - especially about poetry!

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  16. That is an unpleasant surprise,
    but on the other hand,
    those marginalia inspired you to write a poem, all at the price of 3.99! ;-)

    Do you know Billy Collins' "Marginalia" poem?
    Here is the first verse:

    Sometimes the notes are ferocious,
    skirmishes against the author
    raging along the borders of every page
    in tiny black script.
    If I could just get my hands on you,
    Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O'Brien,
    they seem to say,
    I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head.


    (Click here for the poem, at Poem Hunter)

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  17. Love your poem. For the most part I have had good luck with used books ordered on-line. As someone else mentioned it is a great way to buy hard to find/obscure books. I would send the seller a note re: definition of very good condition.

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  18. PS I also have to confess to marking up my own books, though not to the extent that you describe.

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  19. Merisi, thank you! This Billy Collins piece is new to me. (and I thought I knew all of his poems)

    Popping over to take a read...

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  20. ...LOVED it!!! Especially that last line, "Pardon the egg salad stains, but I'm in love."

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  21. The purple ink....definitely a giveaway....

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  22. As a former bookstore owner, I really could relate to this story. And your poem is exquisite.

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  23. That is a really excellent poem

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  24. Excellent, pithy poem! And, as an avid underliner, dog-ear(er), and note-in-the-margin type for books I love and learn from, I have to say I would NEVER sell them! All that work is reserved only for books I consider my good friends - and good friends can never be for sale. But I do admit, I have written on my friends in every color ink! Will you still love me?

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  25. I would never give a book that I had written in away. That's why I write in them, to see how I feel next time I read it. Everyone is different, I guess, but yes that was a pithy poem, and I loved it.
    QMM

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  26. Aaargh. That would be like hair on a hotel room pillow for me!

    Good poem though, so not all lost, and check carefully - it might have been Joe Orton. Well, obviously not, but you know what I mean.

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  27. Perhaps a note back to the seller excoriating him for his misrepresentation of said book is in order?

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  28. Could you enclose a copy of the poem and send the book back to Amazon?

    Just last night I read an Anne Fadiman essay on how different people "love" their books. Some people practice courtly love, while others engage in more carnal love.

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  29. Excellent poem! Well executed. Tight. Balanced. Excellent emotional impact. I love such poems that celebrate minutia, the stuff of life.

    At one time in the jail where I work we had a quality control officer. She corrected our written work with the dreaded purple pen.

    I once sent back a correction correcting her spelling and making notes on her unique syntax. I never saw a purple pen note again.

    Mike

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  30. I think you should take your folk guitar down to the corner soap box...yer so good!
    -Jayne


    Seems Amazon is too big for it's britches....one suggestion... abebooks.com

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  31. Very clever!
    I DO agree.
    Never buy a
    book you cannot
    see!

    (I do love thrift and used books because you often find the most interesting things tucked away in them, don't you?)

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  32. I agree: only the author's words on the page, please. As a general rule, I never even write in textbooks.

    I've had good luck with paperbackswap.com by being very specific about what I won't accept. There have been a few who ignored my conditions, but they were nice when I complained.

    Also, your poem is lovely! Thank you for sharing the poem and its inspiration.

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  33. Love that last line, the violence committed to words still bleeding in that color.

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  34. if that critic only knew a poem has been written about them. yes, purple ink--never to trust!

    That has always been my concern with ordering anything used online that i can't see. Too many bad episodes with e-bay to do that again.

    Glad at least you got a poem out of it--turning purple into poem!

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  35. The Billy Collins poem Marginalia is priceless! I have always had good luck with used books...sounds like you received a rare purple inked mess! I agree complain!!

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  36. In grad school my husband's Comp. Religion textbooks grew full of his tiny arguments against the authors. I enjoy notations by an unknown hand -- say in a cookbook -- but not in fiction or poetry.

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  37. Kat, I love finding treasures of vintage ephemera, long forgotten, tucked inside old books!!!

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  38. I never trust purple ink. Nice. Who owned it? Whose notes were you looking at? I once had the pleasure and priviledge of working with Donald Hall's manuscripts at UNH and reading the editor's marginalia. Some notes are worth reading.

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  39. Donald Hall's manuscripts? You lucky dog.

    This was just an anonymously owned paperback copy. The notes were definitely not worth reading. They only obstructed the poems from being read!

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  40. I love it that you turned a frustrating event into poetry. Well done Willow! xx

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  41. Here's a raisin -- bravo on a most sweet dough-post.

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  42. Maybe I'm weird, but I love reading books that are written all over with someone else's notations. Wonderful poem, Willow!!

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  43. "Never trust purple ink." LOVE this! Like you, I would have been terribly disappointed to find that the book had been descrated with someone's notes. No, no, do not write in books!

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  44. You've just confirmed in a lovely ode what I always suspected - never buy second hand books sight unseen.

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  45. What a riposte! Absolutely marvellous. A gem of a poem.

    Greetings from London.

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  46. Hello Willow,

    I certainly wouldn't want a book that has been scribbled on and I think the seller should have to mention that kind of "damage" - even for $3.99. Your own poem is great.

    Your forgiving friend.

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  47. The post, but especially your poem? Perfection.

    I do not write in books! Hate the underlines, highlights and other abominations. It's just wrong.

    But you, Willow? You are right. You are.

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  48. Apples to oranges, I'm sure- but once I took a test, a very difficult test, and only passed it because someone before me "doodled" on their question book, the answer to some math problem. Horrible with math, I am. (But if you can add and subtract, you can pretty much run a business.) From that day forward, I don't mind doodles.

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  49. LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

    (I don't trust purple ink either. Especially if it smells like grapes.)

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  50. I love the poem willow!...well worth the 3.99 inspiration:)

    ...so far the used books I have bought through Amazon have arrived so pristine they could have been new...

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  51. If I get one or two misses from Amazon, I'm happy. Usually, they are quick and a good deal cheaper than going elsewhere. Unless I want to buy a number of titles in a lot. Then I do ebay.

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  52. I'm a new Kindle reader user. I haven't tried marking up notes in it yet - but I could. That would obviate all the scribbles of others! I'm liking the convenience aspect of Kindle, but yes I miss the smell of the paper. Loved your poem!

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  53. Willow,

    I some times am reduced to ordering "used" books online, however I truly love the sojourns into the depths of our local used book stores so much more than I do opening a package from UPS! There is something wonderful about the smell of old books and I always have a rush of anticipation when I find a volume in leather from an author I've never experienced. From my childhood I was taught never to deface a book (great grandmother was a collector). I remember my Mother inheriting her grandmother's books which were stored in an adjoining closet separating my brother's and my bedrooms. I spent a lot of time in that closet sitting among the books. Can't recall now whether it was because I missed my great grandmother or if I was hiding from my brother...anyway, I still can recall the smell of her books (mostly leather bound volumes). I have no idea where they went, probably disposed of over the years. It's so great to see that you hold the same reverence.

    Loved your poem. Do you ever publish?

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  54. The convenience of Kindle would be great, but I relish the feeling of a book in my hands, the texture of the paper, the scent, the style of the text.

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  55. Fun rant on the condition of your used book. I would be irritated as well.

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  56. CHK/CHW, writing poetry is fairly new to me, but I would love to publish. I'm thinking about putting together a chap book.

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  57. I don't mind finding some notes in the margins, especially if they are intelligent quips and observations. But to have an entire volume butchered (with purple ink!!) would make me very, very sad indeed!

    Loved the poem! Excellent way to rant :)

    Jen

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  58. I love hanging out at The Manor....

    Great poem.....


    S

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  59. Your poem is so rich..aha..you couldn't have written it unless you'd bought this book..everything has a purpose!

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  60. I have a 'thing' when it comes to books! Do not write in them unless there is a specific space headed 'notes', do not highlight, do not turn down the top of the page to let you know when you come back, where you are: do not bend the spine, do not bend it, turn it inside out, upside down - in fact the only thing you can do, is write your name, date and place of purchase (as in country, not shop) and read it! And if it's lent out, please return.

    Excellent, excellent poem. You are so clever.

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  61. I'd have to agree--never trust anyone who uses purple ink! And if they're circling the dots over "i's" that just can't be good! Wonderful poem, Willow. I like Simic.

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  62. Been lucky so far with Amazon...I have a hard time just putting a price tag in my old books at the shop...how rude...

    You should see my brothers copy of The Course in Miracles, it swells with underlines and circles...a well used study guide...wish he would've studied it when we were kids...ha!

    Thanks for the kind words...s&s

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  63. Are you sure you've only just started writing poetry? I have to say I like it -yet again!It's very accomplished and you seem to have a style already.Nice/ amusing punchline too.Isn't it great that you have found this voice? Keep going and stay on Da Bus!

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  64. Yes, and I'm having so much fun! I look forward to each bus ride. Thanks, Eej!

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  65. I'm with Brian, I do write all over my books but wouldn't want someone else's scribbles (unless they were say, Jean Paul Sartre's). Great poem though!

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  66. I order his book from Amazon.com and it came used but in perfect condition. Only one distraction was what looked like a booger with a hair on one of the pages. I guess that ended that. I lost my stomach for reading no telling where the fingers on those pages were before and after that.

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  67. I have mixed feelings about marginalia. On the one hand, I know what you mean--it gives me a screechy feeling to see it, unexpected, in a book--it's a distraction, almost a defacement. On the other hand, some marginalia (like that of my dad, who compulsively took notes in books) is lovely and comforting to me, a little voice from the past.

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  68. Okay, Abe, I'd choose the purple pen over the booger and hair any day.

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  69. I've never understood using circles to dot your I's. And in purple ink?...sounds like a 6th grade girl. ha!

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  70. too funny your poem!!! loved it! i've always had really good luck with amazon and used/almost new or in good condition ones - but it does depend upon the book itself or i will buy it new - but on used books overall, let me tell you a story about buying them - when i first came to delaware, there was a moose lodge across the street from an antique store i frequented - one day i noticed they were having a yard sale so i walked over just out of curiosity - there were several tables of used books piled high with dusty boxes of books obviously pulled from attics of long ago - the boxes were marked as $1.00 ea for the books - i started rummaging through and picked up several turn of the century - 20th - books on this and that - and then found one that appeared to be much older than that even - i had 7 or 8 chosen - and started flipping them open before a final decision - i mean, for $1.00 what was to lose - anyway, opened up the first which was early century and saw the words "first edition" - opened up several others and "first edition" - i looked up and around at the crowd and no one seemed to notice that i was about to faint - then i opened the oldest of the group - it was the book of prosper merimee's love letters to an incognita - A FIRST EDITION!!! by then, my knees were wobbling - i turned to the vendor and as casually as i could, said, "excuse me, but do you know what these books ARE?" [i'm giving her a chance] - and she replied that yeah, they had some really old used books and she just wanted to get rid of them - and so as casually again as i could muster, i said, "i want to be sure that i understand your sign that says these books are $1.00 each - is that the correct price for THESE books?" - to which she responded, "well, they are SO OLD that if you want them all, i'll let you have 4 for $1.00 just to get rid of them if you want them!" - well, boys and girls, i bought every single one that was a first edition - gave them as christmas gifts to family and friends - so i never turn away from a used book sale in delaware now!

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  71. Gypsy, I LOVE it!! You never know where some unappreciated treasures, like your first editions, may be lurking. What a fun find!

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  72. This is creativity at its finest. Is it any wonder why I find you inspirational? Your poem and post are fantastic. I am sorry I missed your ball. I hope a splendid time was had by all.

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  73. This is great, Willow! But you know, I love finding writing in VERY OLD books. That old, squiggly, beautiful writing. I want to know the story of the person who wrote it.

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  74. Oh, Boomer, me, too. In fact, I like to research former owners of the very old books. It's fascinating to find out who there were and where they lived.

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  75. My Mother NEVER allowed me to write in nor dogear a book.

    I did my college bookds and my Bible but no other books. I have two new books ordered from Amazon right now.

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  76. Good morning, Willow!
    I hope everything is alright on your side of the pond.
    Sunny greetings,
    M.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)