grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

  • Home
  • About
  • Media
  • Crafts
  • Farm
  • Food
  • Garden
  • Reading & Books
  • Sunday Letter
  • SHOP!
  • Privacy Policy

smell of old books

November 24, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner 15 Comments


smell of old books
morguefile


Stacked in the far corner—dusty,
musty and ignored—an
entire world awaits at only fifty cents each.
Leave me while I
linger
over brittle, yellowed pages filled with
fanciful words, forgotten fonts. 
Outdated tales
languish, longing to be rediscovered beneath 
durable covers
bound by history. Yes, I’m
obsessed. Whose fingers touched these pages? I inhale the
odor of linseed and ink and paper and coffee. A
keyhole to yesterday. The
smell of time.

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.” 
― C.S. Lewis

This post was written especially for Write Tribe prompt: smell of old books…

Filed Under: Reading & Books Tagged With: acrostic, creative writing prompt

Wanna receive my monthly Newsletter? Sign up here!

Comments

  1. Gayle Glass says

    November 24, 2013 at 6:12 am

    Perfect.

    Reply
  2. Colene says

    November 24, 2013 at 8:32 am

    What a vivid picture you conjure! Lovely!

    Reply
  3. Bryan Jones says

    November 24, 2013 at 4:27 pm

    cool!

    Reply
  4. Jeannie says

    November 24, 2013 at 6:32 pm

    Wonderful poem. I disagree with Lewis though. Every book, even an old book is new to someone who has not read it whether it sat on a shelf one week or 100 years. Here via TWB. For what it’s worth

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      November 25, 2013 at 4:33 pm

      Very true Jeannie! Thanks for visiting:))

      Reply
  5. Freeda Baker Nichols says

    November 25, 2013 at 5:10 am

    Time-honored books, “musty and ignored” always an invitation to the writer to touch them and look inside.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      November 25, 2013 at 4:32 pm

      Thanks Freeda!

      Reply
  6. Patricia A. Laster says

    November 25, 2013 at 5:35 am

    I guess since I’m finished with Alice Munro’s stories, I should–according to CSLewis, finish reading The Bobbsey Twins in the Country, huh? Good acrostic poem.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      November 25, 2013 at 4:32 pm

      Thank you m’dear.

      Reply
  7. Carolyn says

    November 25, 2013 at 9:21 am

    Thanks, Talya. When I worked at Dallas Public Library, I loved to go into the book storage areas not open to the public. The smell was unmistakeable and unforgettable.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      November 25, 2013 at 4:32 pm

      There’s a book storage area not open to the public???? Wow.

      Reply
  8. cifar shayar says

    November 26, 2013 at 1:32 am

    very creative,superb post

    Reply
  9. Ranveer vishal says

    November 26, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    Love the good, old type writer format and an original post:)

    Reply
  10. Ranveer vishal says

    November 26, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    http://www.vishalbheeroo.wordpress.com, check my prompt:)

    Reply
  11. buzzbundle reviews says

    April 19, 2014 at 5:00 am

    Anԁ then there are those times when writing takes ɑ lot
    more effort. Social Media · Search Engines love Sߋcial Media.
    Indexing is reallу a type of cataloguing through which web pages are designated to the relevant key
    phrases.

    Reply

COMMENT: Cancel reply

Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

Click to BUY NOW!

Talya Tate Boerner books
Gene, Everywhere

Never miss a blog post! Subscribe via email:

Receive my not-very-regular Newsletter?

Most Popular Posts…

  • Nana's Strawberry Cake (the real one)
  • Yum Yum Cake - old southern recipe!
  • Ozarkansas Tool Library!
  • Black Apple Crisp
  • Rusted Ford Trucks (a short story waiting to be written)

Most Recent

  • Sunday Letter: 01.29.23
  • Sunday Letter: 01.15.23
  • Sunday Letter: 01.08.23
  • Sunday Letter: 12.18.22
  • Sunday Letter: 12.11.22

Grace Grits index

Prior Posts

Search Categories

Tags

A to Z April Blog Challenge Autumn BAT Book Reviews childhood Christmas creative writing prompt Dallas Desserts Eureka Springs Fall Fayetteville Food Gracie Lee Halloween Hemingway-Pfeiffer home humor Johnson Family Keiser Lake Norfork Lucy and Annabelle Mississippi County Mississippi Delta moving Munger Place Nana nature Northeast Arkansas Northwest Arkansas Osceola poem Reading Schnauzer simple living simple things spring spring gardening Summer sunday letter Talya Tate Boerner novel The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee Thomas Tate Winter Wordless Wednesday
Follow on Bloglovin

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!

All content and photos Copyright Grace, Grits and Gardening © 2023 · Web Hosting By StrataByte