Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

The Reading Room

Peeling brown walls, cracked paint
Floral wallpaper,
Flowers fade in late afternoon silence
Sunlight sifts through hovering motes of dust
Tattered book laid open
With yellowed pages and faint script

Grayed old man hunched over table
Illuminated by lamp, glows genially
Sorrowful eyes intense and reddened
Delicate wrinkles tucked
Like flowers around his eyelids
Black slacks speckled with lint
Solitude among stacks of tomes

Words form lilting voices in mind’s theater
Images of ancient heroes cast on screen
Ships sail into wine dark Aegean
Gilded by morning light
Helen’s radiance shines
Brighter than a thousand suns at midnight
Eyes grow watery,
Sparkling in electric shine of lamp
Words blur into illegibility
Woman steps in softly,
Skirt swishes with each stride
Silky face and rose blossom lips, angelic
The yearning written in the sparkle of his iris
Her compelling aura
Fans the flames of his desire
As she fades into the stacks

He folds the book back together
Gently as a butterfly closing its wings
Rising from the ruins of lost dreams
He departs the sanctum of legends
Like Odysseus setting off on his epic journey
Her perfume scents his passage
With sweet fragrance of lilac

john, this sounds like an unused clip from blade runner...it could
certainly be the opening scene of some thought provoking film-

walt

Walt, I'm glad my poem left a cinematic impression on you. Much thanks for reading and your supportive feedback.

John

a nice set up of the space blends literature into reality as Helen of Troy appears before you, and you know that you are not dreaming because her scent lingers in your nostrils....I need to get out to the Christian Science Reading Room more often, ha .....your poems often remind me of paintings, john...that's a good thing.

Helen of Troy appears before you, and you know that you are not dreaming because her scent lingers in your nostrils....

I love the way you described that. Glad you enjoyed my word painting. I enjoyed your comment much.

John

Indeed a dreamy read....
loved it!
H

Hester, glad you could join in my dream.

John

john! what a delightful poem. i loved the grace of it and the feelings it envoked in me.

...and books...aah, how they feed the soul.

SmileGRL, I'm so glad this humble poem was well received by you. Hearing that it evoked feelings in you made it all worth while. Yes books are the centerpiece of my life as well. Thanks, honey, for reading me.

John