He spots gold leaf
on faded linen
a forgotten sparkle
bound in dust
confidently pulls
it to him, gently
soothes the dark
of must and soot
allows the pungent
pages, the mellow
vellum to fall open
in his hands
then one by one
devours each word
memorizes every
pilfered phrase
Tess Kincaid
May 2011
Tess Kincaid
May 2011
Last week my computer crashed, literally. I knocked the desktop box with the vacuum sweeper and it crashed on the ceramic tile floor. So, to make a long story short, after the annoying process of starting from scratch with a new PC, I had to get a new compatible headset/microphone. My in-house computer tech is now home from college for the summer. He and I tried for an hour to record without static in the background, to no avail. We decided it must be all the kinetic ghostly energy around my desk. After all, May and June are the haunted hot spots at the manor.
For more on the ghosts of Willow Manor, click on the "ghosts" label at the end of this post.
Tess,
ReplyDeleteYou've been using your psychic powers to peek in on my activities, haven't you?
rel
the sensory aspcts of books are hard to fully share with people who merely read them!! this is really nicely done tess. the yucky crash story - an added bonus! i'm glad that it has all worked out well. an onsite technician - lucky you. steven
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steven. Uber-cool new avatar pic! wow
ReplyDeleteWonderful prompt this week, and a great poem you have led off with.
ReplyDeleteBut I find myself particularly moved by your computer crash as I am still getting used to my new computer after last fall's debacle with the incompetent nerd. But he mention of haunted hot spots in May and June really hit home. There hangs a tale you must share some day.
Jacqui, for more on the manor ghosts, click on the "ghosts" tag at the end of this post.
ReplyDeleteMachines, machines. Half the time you want to smash the wretched things with a pick-axe, and the other half they fail (fall) on you! Poor Willow, you have my sympathy.
ReplyDelete"mellow vellum" is brilliant. Wonderfully sensory.
ReplyDeletemellow vellum love it.
ReplyDeleteGoing to check out your ghosts now.
I love the image and all the "book" words. Very sensual. I could smell them and feel them and almost read them. (Sorry about your computer woes!)
ReplyDelete...before he sneezes
ReplyDeleteI have a new computer too
so I know what you are going through
Too bad the poem is called "book worm", I was sure this was about an old monk in an even older monastery library.
ReplyDelete(No comment on the computer troubles)
oooh!
ReplyDelete"allows the pungent
pages, the mellow
vellum to fall open
in his hands.."
Sounds like a beautiful surrender to me.
Sorry about your crash. Starting with a new computer is like moving into a new house, you don't know where your things are or how to turn on the lights. Nice to have your tech around! Good luck!
Thanks everybody. Yeah, Marion, I think I've finally figured out where all the light switches are. It's hard to teach an old doggy new tricks.
ReplyDeletenothing is better than the feel of a book in hand....and ghost, what a wonderful place to live :)
ReplyDeleteMysterious and beautifully written, Tess. I especially like the third verse.
ReplyDeletelove the feel and smell of books, love your words...
ReplyDeleteA literal crash ~ it had to be horrific.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem, my favorite word 'pilfered' ... it conjures up all sorts of scenarios.
So beautifully done. The selection of the image and the words you've chosen. You thrill me!
ReplyDeleteGripping title. The body of the poem is very strong.I enjoyed it. My magpie: http://verseinanutshell.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/open-book/
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem, Tess, and I love old books. Sometimes, I think a kindle would be really nice on the road for me, but I'd never give up books...
ReplyDeleteGonna quote you today:
ReplyDeleteONE
"I adore the scent of old paper in secondhand bookshops, the dance of words on a page..."
I knew you really meant that, and it has inspired me to visit the (2) old book shops here. You are SO RIGHT LOL!!
TWO
"...after the annoying process of starting from scratch with a new PC.."
Those are the happiest moments of my entire life, setting up a brand new computer, designed to my specs by PUGET To Each His Own...
I look forward to reading about the 'Ghosts of the Manor'--these have GOT to be good. (Everything you publish is G O O D, Tess Kincaid.)
As always!
Steve E
Tess, this is quite extraordinary.
ReplyDeletebook worm, like alice before him,
ReplyDeletecan aspirate, can be smaller
than a microbe, or as gigantic
as a colossus, a garden gnome,
a manor ghost, a flea on your cat,
an aphid on your rose, a butterfly
in a spider's web preparing to be
a beautiful breakfast for spiders,
a branch floating in a quiet Scioto
eddy, a handful of tulip tree blossoms
lying softly in a pink pile, and mr.
worm was nurtured from childhood,
fed the classics, loved the art in
comic books, read the placards
below paintings in museums,
and even though he wears the
cyber wings of mercury while
surfing, he still treasures the oder
of papyrus, the musty musky
oder of the pages of antiquity;
and to our glee he is gregarious
and resides like the angels in
all places, in all times, but loves
the manor air in Dublin.
loved your lines /a forgotten
sparkle/bound in dust/
This is so very well put.
ReplyDeleteQuite a feast you've presented..I must partake!!
ReplyDeleteI am a bookworm in hidden,
ReplyDeletelovely tale.
keep us inspired.
Just a fabulous prompt and one I hope I can do justice with. I LOVED the ghost story links and I will be posting a PHOTO within the next couple of weeks I took while on a ghost tour in Savannah GA. I'm not sure, but my daughters are convinced I caught something... :)
ReplyDeleteYour bookworm poem is delightful, Tess, but your computer crash is dreadful news. So fortunate you have an in-house tech.
ReplyDelete— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
Your poem is a delight. So picturesque - musty, moldy books and a book worm all bound together in a gold-leaf poem. I love it.
ReplyDeletei loved your poem, and this morning i read through all of the ghost posts. so amazing and the history of your place is wonderful. how i love old houses and all of the stories that lurk behind their walls.
ReplyDeleteghosts !!!! my favorite subject...
ReplyDeletei think i have one too..he/she is upstairs...sometimes i walk through a cold spot..always the same spot...by the little woodstove in my bedroom...and sometimes when i stand in the same spot by the window...i can "feel" someone behind my back. can it be true????
made me SMILE to see you here this morning...i have been thinking about you...happy to be back...thanks for the kind welcome
i have missed you as well, my friend
kary
xxx
a poem which stimulates all the senses! beautiful
ReplyDeletewhat a bummer re your computer...but how nice to have an in-house techie!
I love the "mellow vellum." Makes me hungry...
ReplyDeleteYou have captured well the delight, the pure contentment of pulling a book from the shelves of time.
ReplyDeleteEspecially enjoyed the "Poem Reading" So Much Better to be able to close one's eyes and Listen! Lovely! You'll always have something to talk about with Company if you have Ghosts in the House! Interesting Place You Have!
ReplyDeleteHow could you possibly go wrong with books.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent poem, and not just about males.
Hope you are back in functioning computer heaven.
Rereading an old book is like visiting an old friend. This is why I think that Kindles and I may have a problem. holding a book and turning the pages is heaven - to me.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you captured that feeling.
love, love, love that i can breathe these words!
ReplyDeleteIn their way, books are "ghosts" too, aren't they? Virginia Woolf can still tell us a story, and living authors can still speak as who they were five, ten, or twenty years ago, as well as in their current voices.
ReplyDeleteFireblossom, you're brilliant. I love the notion that books are ghosts. They truly are.
ReplyDeleteOh this is marvelous. Such a leader we have found in you!
ReplyDeleteHehehe, "Pilfered phrase",hence my opinions about "Quoters" Very meaty! I agree with Fireblossom wholeheartedly too.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a marvelous piece. A favorite of mine, I think.
ReplyDeleteLove this! The love affair between humans and books is one of the sweetest loves on the planet! :o)
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with the scent of words all over again. Brilliant, Tess, thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh my! So glad you are back up & running.
ReplyDeleteI love books. Today I was saddened to hear that more Kindles were sold for Christmas than actual books??? Yikes! I love REAL BOOKS!
peace to your ghosts...tee hee
OK. This is my all-time absolute favorite. I love it!! Everything about this is just perfect... and I especially love how you showed the kind of person he is, just in the way that he treats his books.
ReplyDeleteLovely words about old books. Oh my -- what an unfortunate happening with your system. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteIf your computer has more than one set of audio-out plugs, try switching...it can involve some ticking boxes in the audio software. My machine has two outs, and one has a lot of awful whiny static in the background, while the other does not.
ReplyDeleteHow awful, dropping your machine!! A reminder to take hard copies, everyone...
If your computer has more than one set of audio-out plugs, try switching...it can involve some ticking boxes in the audio software. My machine has two outs, and one has a lot of awful whiny static in the background, while the other does not.
ReplyDeleteHow awful, dropping your machine!! A reminder to take hard copies, everyone...
I like the poem….
ReplyDeleteI'm sad...my sound card isn't working anymore, so I can't listen to you read your poetry anymore.
ReplyDeleteI love the gold leafed edges of those books and the thought of mellow vellum.
A delicioius sensory feast, Tess! And memorizing the tasty words makes them richer.
ReplyDeleteMy own spooky tale--which involves the OTHER Margaret on this page--is that I went on that same haunted tour in Savannah just a few months ago! Did yours end down by the river in a ghostly 19th century warehouse?! Now, add the unexplainmed happenings at Willow Manor! Strange!
Like many previous commenters, mellow vellum struck my famcy. Gold leaf always creates a wonderful visual!
ReplyDelete"A forgotten sparkle"
ReplyDeleteBeautiful phrase.
I can smell the books in the photo and in the words of your beautiful poem.
ReplyDeleteSuperb!
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
lovely poem, Tess. I found this prompt inspiring-- really enjoying music chat on FB with you and thanks for hosting this great meme...xxxj
ReplyDeleteLovely piece, I love the comment about books being like 'ghosts', voices from the past speak to us. I am off to read your ghostly tales.
ReplyDelete'devours each word' - lovely image describing the hunger for reading.
ReplyDeleteHope you've worked out all the bells and whistles on your new pc.
Oh dear ... re your computer. Aren't computer problems loathsome? Your portrait of the "worm" was superb! You are right I do believe the we are kindred spirits! Thank you. And thank you for Magpie Tales.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Tess...I think all of we word addicts can empathize with your protagonist. Beautiful. vb
ReplyDeleteas any good book should be engulfed
ReplyDeletenicely done. I loved the prompt Tess it was perfect
Looking forward to your feature on One Stop on Thursday!!!
Excellent, especially enjoyed the recording. I have tried that, but do not like my voice on the mic. njoyed this. Great skill.
ReplyDeletei know just how he feels about those old books...
ReplyDeleteI used to take great delight in finding old books in libraries that hadn't been checked out in years. (The record was a fragile text on Renaissance metaphor that last officially went under another's gaze in 1962.) Once I found a girlie mag stuffed in gorgeously illustrated version of Spenser's Amoretti. Indeed. Down in the bowls of the University of Central Florida library I found the oldest books I've ever come across, huge heavy leather volumes of architectural finds from Scotland with a copyright date in the late 18th century. The smell of uncasked pages is unforgettable. Thanks for the memories. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteMellow vellum? Yum!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this piece, there can be such a bond we carry with things so simple as an old book, wonderful! ~ Rose
ReplyDeleteAm seriously considering pilfering your phrases, they are sooo good!
ReplyDeleteDear Tess,
ReplyDeleteYour reading is divine. Oh! How precious old and ancient books of the East and West - adorned with gold leaf, filled with treasure.
I love your spiritual shelf, gleaming with care.
I love how your poems engage all the senses! I shuddered when I read about your literal computer crash. Egads!
ReplyDeleteThank you for another great prompt and poem. I fix on "pilfered" and the possible double meaning . . . ?
ReplyDeleteFTSE, I knew I would have at least one brilliant reader.
ReplyDeleteI'm a great fan of the mellow vellum. In David's Bookshop in nearby Letchworth there are shelves full of books selected purely for their glorious spines. Almost invariably they flatter to deceive, but there are treasures to be found.
ReplyDeleteSad to hear of your pc scrolling down so literally. At least you had the small comfort of knowing that its demise was via human agency and not seasonal poltergeists!
I just adore old libraries and books. This is elegant and beautifully penned.
ReplyDeleteCan't stop loving the language in this piece.
ReplyDeleteexcellent...and loved the hidden rhyme....enjoyed this...pete
ReplyDeleteDick, I would love to take a nice long afternoon browse in David's Bookshop. My kinda bliss.
ReplyDeletevery sensual, which i love.
ReplyDelete"the mellow
ReplyDeletevellum" - how that fits around my tongue so well, fits like a book in the hand.
Regarding computers, I had to get a new one myself the other week, it's still a drag, I've had to re-adjust to a new system and while I'm no luddite, it's been a challenge.
That was beautiful! I love that you record the words too. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was very nice to meet you. I will be checking into the manor soon to read more about it. I also like the audio with the poem.
ReplyDeleteI went into a "wordmatic frenzy" with this one, Tess!! Well woven indeed!!
ReplyDeleteAnd boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...that last line was a real KILLER!! LOVED the pinch/twist/jab you gave with that line!
Every book lover's feelings. Nice Magpie!
ReplyDeleteyum =)
ReplyDeleteThis is why I don't read other's magpies till my own is up, even when it takes all week. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteWhoever wrote that books are also ghosts, was dead right.
Sorry about your computer.
Wonderful words to accompany a gorgeous photo too.
ReplyDeleteI do hope your new computer is up dn running now. must be for you to post this.
BTw, I love the crisp sophisticated simplicity of your layout here. Love the woodblock type portrait too that you've had for some time now but I had failed to note it.