27 May 2015

The Bookseller

File:Blown dandelions - blue sky (Ugress på langtur).jpg
source



Look at her selling books at flea markets,
the weediest person I ever saw—
despite multiple attempts  to cultivate her,
she remains herself.  No apologies.  No regrets. 

She’s read each book twice: sci-fi and murder
mysteries,  finding God and edible
flowers, busking and classical drama,
Simone, Maya, e.e., A.A. and me.

In flowered shirt and toe-cut tennis shoes,
she hums blues in parking lots of vendors
as if normalcy existed as foil
to exceptional, as if God’s treasure.

And she is like a dandelion tree in
in a plastic sea, parachuting seeds
that will grow minds and imagination
in any ground, government and season.



For my prompt 

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Weeds/Weediness



Copyright © 2015  S.L.Chast 



21 comments:

  1. I think she is fine and beautiful..humming her own song...what better?

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  2. And she is like a dandelion tree in
    in a plastic sea, parachuting seeds
    that will grow minds and imagination
    in any ground, government and season.

    She sounds fragile but at the same time bears a nature so resilient..!
    I loved how you compared her to a dandelion tree! :D
    Beautifully captured :D

    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

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  3. Anyone who parachutes seeds that will grow minds and imagination can be as weedy as they want to be! No apologies necessary.

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  4. i can picture her in my mind's eye "parachuting seeds / that will grow minds and imagination" and growing faster...weediest person indeed! but a happy self :)

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  5. Susan,

    The bookseller reminds me of many I have met, around the world in the quaintest of odd bookshops. A haven of seeds of learning..
    Eileen

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  6. Gotta love a woman like that: I love "as if normalcy existed as foil to exceptional". Love the dandelion tree in a sea of plastic. Tell her she is my She-ro! LOL.

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  7. Whoa! What a good poem! I loved it.

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  8. "a dandelion tree in
    in a plastic sea, parachuting seeds
    that will grow minds and imagination"

    This makes me love weeds even more as plants and as people.

    You've sketched a beautiful person here.

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  9. Cheers to the open air and walking free with open toed sneakers.
    The weed is never understood is she?

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  10. Oh, how I want to be her! Love this, Susan.

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  11. My wife had a second hand bookshop and at weekends I helped out. It was one of the most rewarding (unpaid) jobs I ever had. It is so sad to see so many disappear in this technological age. This brought back so many memories Susan.

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  12. Love this portrait, particularly the final verse.

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  13. I love the bookseller! Your last stanza is brilliant, Susan.

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  14. She is my kind of dandelion spirit. I am more weed than rose.

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  15. Wow! your use of imagery is sensational in this one; what a fond character you have drawn with your vivacious words

    thanks for dropping in to read mine

    much love...

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  16. Yes! Maybe we do have such a strong reaction to weeds because they remind us of the unstoppable force of nature in a plastic world. Brilliant!

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  17. Good for her. She seems happy with her lot !

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  18. A great way to describe a singular person.

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  19. Weedy, yes, but cultivated and cultured. Any bookseller who reads the books they sell is my kind of person!
    Lovely poem, Susan!

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