Finding a Bible in an Abandoned Cabin
Under dust plush as a moth's wing,
the book's leather cover still darkly shown,
and everywhere else but this spot was sodden
beneath the roof's unraveling shingles.
There was that back-of-the-neck lick of chill
and then, from my index finger, the book
opened like a blasted bird. In its box
of familiar and miraculous inks,
a construction of filaments and dust,
thoroughfares of worms, and a silage
of silverfish husks: in the autumn light,
eight hundred pages of perfect wordless lace.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2007 by Robert Wrigley, whose most recent book of poetry is "Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems," Penguin, 2006. Poem reprinted from "The Hudson Review," Vol. LIX, no. 4, Winter, 2007, by permission of Robert Wrigley. Introduction copyright (c) 2008 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
Most of us love to find things, and to discover a quarter on the sidewalk can make a whole day seem brighter. In this poem, Robert Wrigley, who lives in Idaho, finds what's left of a Bible, and describes it so well that we can almost feel it in our hands.
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Stirring
I mean it, reminds me of places I've been in the summer heat, a kind of water or blood thing. -
I enjoyed reading every word of this! The pictures created through his words is astounding... fabulous imagery to be sure!
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Very good, I enjoyed it.
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A perfect find for us all. Thank you for sharing.
In God's Love
Noah -
That is a great find and the imagery is great too.
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That's lovely. His word choice is beautiful, and the imagery is great.
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"thoroughfares of worms, and a silage of silverfish husks: in the autumn light, eight hundred pages of perfect wordless lace"
this is so descriptive and lovely, thanks for posting this! -
A Beautiful Poem
This poem has made me realize what a beautiful life we really have. Thanks for sharing this beauty with us. -
Thankyou for sharing this with us...wow...fine example
of perfection and flawless poetry.
I loved how this author lightly touched the simile's
yet still kept the strength and message in the poem.
eight hundred pages of perfect word-less lace...
just lovely to enjoy and learn from!
Thanks for sharing it with us to help us all grow!
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wow nice. Thanks for sharing this with us. It brightened up the dark corner of my day!
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wow that's so cool
that is really descriptive and has a lot of meaning to great column dude -
Description is good enough for me to be there finding that same book. I can almost feel it, dust and all.
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great piece,nice flow,steve
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WOW... That was very good.
I am from Idaho too.
hehe...
Thank you for sharing.
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