Many Things Remind Me of Many Things

When I was just a yellow pup, ordering books from the Scholastic Book Service was always a big treat. I loved, and still love, buying books. It is an indulgence which nobody can fault. If you collect shoes (whistling innocently and looking up and away), people will find you self-indulgent and frivolous. Wasteful, even. If you have a fondness for more art supplies than you will ever be able to produce artwork from, again, you could be found guilty of avarice.



But nobody, ever, ever, looks askance at an addiction for books. Anyway. I digress.



One of my favorite Scholastic Books was "Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle" and it is an anthology of poetry.

I have loved so many of the poems in this book, for forty years or so now. And the other morning, when I saw this from the train platform, I was reminded of yet another poem from the book.



dinosaurs



"Steam Shovel



The dinosaurs are not all dead

I saw one raise its iron head

To watch me walking down the road

Beyond our house today.

Its jaws were dripping with a load

Of earth and grass that it had cropped.

It must have heard me where I stopped.

Snorted white steam my way,

And stretched its long neck out to see,

And chewed, and grinned quite amiably.



Charles Malam"
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/04 at 10:35 AM in As I See It


(6) Comments
#1. Posted by sp8cemunky on October 04, 2005

OH MY GOD!
I was skimming your 100 books list and I saw Archie & Mehitabel-I didn’t think ANYone else read that.

I’m so sad that in one of my many moves I lost an original print of Archie & Mehitabel. ugh. Can I get a copy somewhere-do you know?

I’m gonna check out the rest of your blog.

#2. Posted by Reecie on October 05, 2005

Oh God ...
the Scholastic Book Club. How I loved it.

And yeah; shoes, books, art supplies, and office supplies. I can’t get enough of any of them. :-)

#3. Posted by Miz Shoes on October 05, 2005

Sp8cemunky, I just did a search at Alibris.com and found this: The Lives and Times of Archie and Mehitabel. And apparently Archie and Mehitabel has been reissued in paperback, because over at Amazon, they have this.

Thanks for your comments, and I hope to hear from you again.

Reecie: it’s about damned time you checked in, woman.

#4. Posted by Oceanguy on October 06, 2005

It’s funny to see you mention Scholastic Book Club.  Just last week a friend and I laughed at the little order forms and the books we loved. Curious George was my first Scholastic Book Club love.
 
As an aside, today I received a gift from that friend… The Journey That Saved Curious George...  Another great story.

#5. Posted by Reecie on October 06, 2005

I’ve been around, just quiet. ;-)

#6. Posted by Miss Bliss on October 11, 2005

The Scholastic Book Club is where I started my book collection addiction…and I have NO shame whatsoever about it…I just need more room and more bookshelves.

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