Verbal Description
A portrait image
The image shows a rectangle of books on shelves. The center shelves are
white horizontal lines extending beyond the left and right sides of the
photo. The top and bottom shelves are not shown in their entirety. The
white shelves seem to be somewhat askew or viewed from an odd angle so that the image is not exactly level as the books move horizontally across the image. Instead they rise slightly and appear to diminish in size as they approach the right border.
Some books lie horizontally on top of the shelved books, a hodgepodge of
rich textures and lines. Open spaces in the shelves make the books slant and create dark gaps in the horizontal and vertical patchwork.
The spines of the books are decorated with a myriad of colorful fonts, logos and symbols. For most of the books, titles are legible. An occasional author or publisher also appears. “RAM DASS STILL HERE” boldly, in all caps, on a maroon spine. “HAPPINESS IS A WARM PUPPY” less boldly, though still in all caps, on a smaller off-white spine. “IF THE BUDDHA CAME TO DINNER.” “INITIATION.” “CLAUDE MONET.” Alice Walker, David Whyte, Rumi, Mary Oliver. “The BOOK of SECRETS by Deepak Chopra” framed and placed on a pale yellow spine resting horizontally on the skyline of shelf three.
It is a bright uneven tiered skyline of books, a crazy quilt of colors, shapes and printed titles. The books are bordered by the bright white lines of the center shelves and a glimpse of the bright white back showing behind the uneven bottom row of shelves. Other than that, only books and shadows.
I used to feel
Tormented by titles
Of the books I could not read
And the things
I would never know.
Thank goodness
I’ve been able
To transcend the torment
On occasion.
I mean,
The truth is
The titles are at best
A tease if not a trick.
What true knowledge
Could we gain from a book?
Perhaps this is our deeper torment.
Thinking that thinking alone
Is the same as knowing.
Thinking that thinking alone
Could ever compare
To the experience
Of living
Or loving
And longing.
