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| Happy Autumn |
It’s a pleasure to be your host for Poetry Friday this week. I’m always so excited to see what poetic gifts each of you offers. Please add your links in the Inlinkz at the bottom of the post.
You may know that I volunteer at an all-volunteer-run used bookstore, and I have recently stepped down as the volunteer coordinator, but I'm still in charge of donations. We review them each Thursday, reject some, and shelve the others. We are grateful that they keep coming in, in large numbers, every week.
Recently, an older set of nearly all the novels by Charles Dickens was donated. As I placed them in our classics section, I began to wonder if I could use the titles for a poem? This frustrating and actually frightening time in our country has taken up much of my time, and I am working to help the organizations that are fighting back, who are not accepting the changes being enacted. Thus, Dickens and my, perhaps nutty, imagination!
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| What I brought home! |
What The Dickens?
If I could use The Pickwick Papers, being picky,
I would write that these are Hard Times,
though I continue to hold Great Expectations
in spite of our recent world feeling like a Bleak House.
This involves more than A Tale of Two Cities,
and it is not any of Dickens' Christmas Stories!
Each morning I rise to face news of people
appearing to live in the halcyon? days of Martin Chuzzlewit,
some, or none claiming that man is Our Mutual Friend.
He’s only The Haunted Man, filling us with something
never To Be Read at Dusk, Time to check out
The Mystery of Edwin Drood. You'll understand.
Linda Baie ©
If you're wondering, these are Dickens' books I didn't use: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Old Curiosity Shop, Oliver Twist, Barnaby Rudge, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, and Little Dorritt.
Leave your links! (Now ready!)
Linda, I appreciate the dickens out of your Dickens poem. :) Sorry Inlinkz is being pesky! I'll check back later. xo
ReplyDeleteOh, it just popped up! :D
DeleteThanks, I've been messing with it, Karen! Glad to give you a 'Dickens' of a smile!
DeleteI'm glad you continue to hold Great Expectations, Linda! What a clever idea for a poem! A set of vintage Dickens is a very cool donation. I think maybe I would like Little Dorrit. Were you tempted by any? Thanks for hosting! Here's my link: https://theoppositeofindifferencecom.wordpress.com/2025/10/09/gotta-get-out-of-bed/
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tabatha, as you see, I did bring home Christmas Stories, but of the others, I believe I'd like to re-read Oliver Twist. I remember loving it quite a long time ago.
DeleteLeave it to you, Linda, to make something positive & poetic out of those wonderful Dickens titles in the face of the unrelenting chaos biting at our heels every. single. day. You are such a gift to all of us, and to that beloved bookstore. Thanks for hosting this week! xo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robyn, it was a delight to "discover" a poem right as I was shelving this wonderful collection. And, thanks for your sweet words, a "gift" to me!
DeleteI'd say writing the poem AND getting the novels ready for display were both fun projects! Thanks for hosting, Linda.
ReplyDeleteExactly true, Matt. It was fun to do all sorts of imagining as I placed the books on the shelf. Thanks for your imagining that!
DeleteWhat an awesome donation!! So clever of you to write a Dickens of a poem with the titles. :) Thanks for all you're doing to help fight back and for hosting this week!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Jama, my biggest inspiration is to help our world be better for the grandchildren! It was a fun process to make my way through the basic "stories" in order to fit them where they belonged.
DeleteDelightful poem, chock-full of intrigue and wonder. I have some reading to do yet, specifically from your 2nd stanza. Thanks for taking us away for a few moments, filling us with adventures to discover, and thanks for hosting too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle, enjoy what you can, of course, or just read the synopses of the titles you don't know. It was fun to do!
DeleteWhat a creative way to use book titles, I love it. I am so glad that you, such a caring and involved person, is working to defend our Democracy. Thank you. I can imagine that book donations are a bit daunting at times. There are so many people willing to get rid of books...more people than are reading them right now. I pray for enough peace for readers to read again.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. It's a great thing that I can write and publish such a poem, pushing against that which does not support our country's laws. Yes, the donations can overwhelm us, and some weeks are less. We often don't see a pattern in it. It's a mystery!
DeleteEvery time I think about this bookstore, I am filled with a thankful and quiet joy. Such a gift to the community of donors and purchasers and readers all, even when donations are high. This poem is spot on wow, and we are also reminding ourselves not to read at dusk or later about the haunted man. (Sigh.) It's so neat how these titles pushed you, and an excellent reminder of how constraints can free us to say things in new and interesting ways. Thank you for hosting today and always inspiring. Peace to you. xo, a.
ReplyDeleteThank you, too, Amy for the kind words, giving strength for keeping on!
DeleteSuch a creative endeavor, Linda! I learned some new Dickens titles that piqued my curiosity. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWishing you great reading, Rose! Thank you!
DeleteLinda, you really rose to the Dickens challenge! Thank you for sharing. Amazing the treasures that run through your bookstore. What fun. xo
ReplyDeleteSurprising titles arrive every week, Irene. Yes, lots of fun to find them! Thanks!
DeleteWhat a wonderfully clever poem using Dickens! I wish it helped to write about it, but each day just gets worse and worse. Thanks for the good you do in the world and for us poets.
ReplyDeleteIt does help me to get the words out, Margaret, but I hear you that mornings bring news that saddens. Thanks!
DeleteI absolutely get the need to pull back from some commitments so that you can focus on others that are more pressing. I'm glad you're still involved with the bookstore. It is a light in the darkness for sure. Thanks for hosting us. Your Dickens-inspired poem is spot on. I wonder what he would make of these times...
ReplyDeleteYes, it was needed, for me, and to pass that work on to someone younger! Don't you imagine that Dickens would write a book about us, tehe? Now, I'm wondering what the title would be! Thanks, Mary Lee!
DeleteLinda, I want you to know that I miss you. I can imagine how active you are during these hard times. Your creativity to use Dicken's book to write a poem about these times is brilliant. I hope that I will see you at the Poetry Peeps get together at the NCTE Get-Together.
ReplyDeletePS: I am not ready to send my PF blog post just yet but I will.
DeleteThanks, Carol, I hope I can get there, though I don't often go out at night. I'll look for your post!
DeleteLinda, what a great idea to write with Dickens' titles. You have captured some of the hopes and fears of these dark days. Thank you! Thanks for hosting, and I love your bookstore. The next time I am in Denver, I'm looking it up. (I get to do similar work at the Friends of the Library bookshop in my town.)
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you work at that bookshop. I love our main library's shop, too, used to go often when I was teaching, Denise! Thanks for the lovely comment about my poem; Dickens fits us after all these years!
DeleteLinda, I love your idea of using Dickens' titles to create a poem. These are dark days and I also appreciate all you're doing to push back against this monstrous incoming tide.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Molly, every day there's something new to fight against, and I won't turn my back! Glad you're here!
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