when i was in high school i used to spend a lot of time in a used book store in downtown san jose: twice read books (a note by Bay Area Books). [just looking online for a picture of the store has me waxing nostalgic about all those rainy days spent at twice read. i'm going to put off the love letter to the old, rough around the edges downtown of my formative years and get on to the post i'd intended to write. but only b/c it's after midnight and i have a long work day tomorrow...]
when i was sorting through my storage closet i found
a book that i'd bought at twice read at least 21 years ago. it's a gorgeous illustrated book of poems by JG Whittier printed in 1886. i'm not a dedicated reader of Whittier or poetry, but this book is beautiful.so, it's been in my storage cabinet for at least 6 years. before i moved into this apt, i don't know where i'd kept it: likely in another box somewhere. i pulled it from the closet and brought it into the living room.
this collection of poems was first published in 1848. When the 1857 printing was published, Mr. Whittier was still alive and wrote "A Note From the Author" to be included in the book. he regretted that his poor health kept him from editing the selections.
i love this bit:
"That there are pieces in this collection which i would "willingly let die," i am free to confess. But it is now too late to disown them, and i must submit to the inevitable penalty of poetical as well as other sins. there are others, intimately connected with the author's life and times, which owe their tenacity of vitality to the circumstances under which they were written, and the events by which they were suggested.
The long poem of Mogg Megone was in a great measure composed in early life; and it is scarcely neccessary to say that its subject is not such as the writer would have chosen at any subsequent period.
J.G.W
Amesbury, 18th 3d mo., 1857"
how wonderful is it to know that rolling one's eyes at our own bad, teen-poetry is something that's gone on so long?
{these pix of the Whittier book are crappy. i took them with the laptop while sitting in bed. if i can get it together i'll replace them with more representative pix soon.}
**the pic of Twice Read was taken by Avi Morgan. i don't know Avi, but found this pic among some of his shots of downtown San Jo. i got sucked into looking at all his shots of historic san jose. lovely and evocative. i logged a lot of miles on foot and bicycle checking out all the old nooks and crannies of downtown and still have a tremendous fondness for it. since i left san jose in 1989, i have this recurring issue: every time i go home to visit, my favorite places are gone: not just shuttered, but buildings razed and replaced. during the 1990's even streets would go missing, replaced by new highways.
my mom sold the family house (a large craftsman bought by my grandparents in 1964) about 10 years ago. when i do go back to san jose the only thing that really brings me downtown is La Victoria Taqueria. the picture on this yelp page is of the original location on e. san carlos street. they've since moved to...what is the name of that square? fun fact: in this pic of La Vic, you can see a fast food joint next door. it is the same jack in the box where i worked in high school.**
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