The aged librarian is the caesura
in a reading when we
still are silent, waiting
to applaud.
We glance sideways,
shuffle feet,
explore the lint on threadbare cloth.
And we exhale, relieved
we sigh
when with a nasal voice it starts again.
The aged librarian is a shadow
of that sigh.
Pause by Bridget Riley
Stacie asks us to write on metaphors at toads, and whenever I starts to write I think of my aged librarian who is in himself a metaphor but could be described with a metaphor.
January 20, 2017
“And we exhale, relieved
we sigh”
In the shadow of wisdom there the exhaled breath creates new wishes
thanks for dropping by to read mine Bjorn
much love…
He “is a shadow of that sigh.” Very cool, Bjorn. This is an interesting series.
I would like to visit this library, Bjorn. Librarians interest me but I really don’t know any very well. I have been trying to visualize what the “shadow of a sigh” might entail. I don’t visualize very well but I do think I can ‘see’ a shallow, weak, sigh that an very old person might be capable of doing.
..
Every time I meet your librarian I meet him a little bit nearer. Delicate this one, lighter than I sigh I suppose
Love “he is a shadow of that sigh” brilliant take on the prompt!❤️
Really excellent, Bjorn, the way you have condensed your image into that one pause.
This was delicious! I found myself playing with my breathing as I read… Your poem wouldn’t have it any other way. Delicious pauses, indeed.
“a shadow of a sigh” … one could get lost is that space.
Bjorn, thank you for participating and sharing. Your poem has a musicality to it, as if the librarian is breathing and resting in the spaces of her books – indeed, like a musician playing an instrument, she reads her pages as she ages…beautiful metaphor.
I really your exploration of how much a pause can hold and how it can be both the bearer of relief and restlessness.