I've alluded in the past to the fact that my two favorite places of business in Seattle are in the same building: The Allegro Cafe and Magus Used Books. I went to the former this morning, awaiting the opening of the latter. There is a table in the corner near the counter that is designated The Poet's Corner. I've seen this before, and there are often many books on the table, and sometimes people sitting there, but I didn't quite get it , and being of a shy, midwestern temperament, didn't ask. Or maybe its the guys-don't-ask-for directions thing. Anyway, this morning I met The Poet. As it happens he was engaged in conversation with my neighbor from across the street, and several others, and it further happens that, as I was ordering my short latte and blueberry muffin, the word Sontag wafts to my ears, so I take this happy coincidence as license to barge, and I do.
So, we talk of Sontag, old and new, and the virtues of revising ideology with age, and I laid a little WorldCat.Org on 'em, and Mark, a UW librarian and member of the klatch, is with me chapter and verse on this, and quickly there are three more WorldCat fans at the table, and my latte is still warm. A good morning's effort so far, but the field is not entirely free of challenge.
My poetry credentials don't extend very much beyond association with my wife. So, I shamelessly relate tales of her books (see below), and her approach to adult literacy, and that, along with my library cred, carries the day, and I'm feeling like a native. Writing with fountain pens, the similarity of light in Paris and Seattle (same latitude), virtues and vices of e-communication, virtual connections, Shelley and Plato, and more had me re-feeding the parking meter (twice)... and... I scored the book I wanted at Magus. This city is great.
Did I mention Marguerite is just finishing a revision, soon to appear in bookstores and, of course, in WorldCat?
More about the real family scholar here:
http://worldcat.org/oclc/26160663
http://worldcat.org/oclc/33334885
http://worldcat.org/oclc/51983580
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Image: Summer barge traffic in Puget Sound, from a Washington State Ferry July, 2006
