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“Borders is Closing (A Saturday afternoon; and the passing of a friend.)”I will miss the smell of books.Bound paper. Ink on a page.And their coffee.A place to sit, on Pacific Avenueout of the rainand write.It was my version of Hemingway’s “clean, well-lighted place”(without the despair, loneliness or nihilistic taint.)There is something that feels sacredabout a repository of booksfor sale or not.And Borders was oneof the places wherefrom time to timeI went to write, to peruse and to wonder atthe thoughts of others.Stacks of friends-in-paperof like mindsor not.A place to go, and touch pages.To stand in the lighted space, and feelsmooth paper beneath my fingertips. And feel the words of othersin my eyes.It’s not that I mind Amazonor Kindle or Nookand the like. I’ve shopped the pixel placesbutthere is something holy about“the bookstore”as an intersection of intellectual pathways.A nexus.A springboard of dimensional collaboration.Its occupants were literate.Thirsty forwords.Capable of considering the ideas of another in order to reach the lofty places – the great open places intheir minds. Or simply to scratch the itch of curiosity. I wonder if the Library atAlexandriawas like that before it was sacked. -- Graves 10/18/14I am happy to announce that my book "Messages in a Bottle: Communications to My Future Self" took one of the top awards given by the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in 2018. Find out more about it, and about my book “Reflections on a Crystal Wind” (which is also pretty good) at: https://www.michaelgravespoet.com/DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK OF MY POETRY! (it's easy):1) Just click this link. https://hugohousebookstore.com/product/messages-bottle-paperback/2) Then, click on the button that says: Free E-Book “A Glimpse Beyond”.3) Download onto your phone, iPad or computer. “A Glimpse Beyond” downloads in Kindle, iBooks and other formats for your convenience. Copyright © 2014 by Michael Graves, All Rights Reserved, except the right to forward and to share with friends - with credit -- which is held to be a good idea and is thus encouraged.Find more of Michael Graves' poetry on MeWe at:https://mewe.com/p/michaelgraves-poet And on Instagram at: #mg_poetThe image is of one of the tiny detailed dioramas that artist Lori Nix designed for her post-apocalyptic vision. She built the 3-D scenes in her living room on nights and weekends with the help of an assistant, with each one taking anywhere from two to fifteen months to complete. Nix then shot the dioramas on normal 8×10 film, making her minuscule creations — measuring about 20 x 24 x 72 inches — appear nearly indistinguishable from full-size scenes. More information here:https://www.fastcompany.com/1662890/lori-nixs-stunning-tiny-dioramas-depict-an-abandoned-world-slideshow#9