Ode To My Landing
There are five of us in our house, actually six, since the
new puppy ‘Ringo Star’ arrived two weeks ago. I was happy
to find him earlier, chilling out in the garden with a good book!
We have books all over our house…
We
have floor books
This random collection of books sit by my computer table at
the moment. I collect book stands from junk shops so that I can have ‘Floor
Books’ scattered around the house.
We have shelf books
This particular collection of books and objects belong to my
daughter. I loved this book shelf so
much that it appears as Mira Levenson’s book shelf in the Jasmine Skies trailer.
We have ‘escape from the world for longer than you need’
books by the side of the toilet.
We have ‘much loved by boys … and girls… but especially
boys’… books!
We have ‘do not touch my favourite books or my snow domes on pain of death’ book
shelves
And, finally, we have… The Landing – my favourite room in
our house… not a room at all but a space between stairs … a fitting place for
the imagination to roam!
I love my book landing so much that I have been inspired to
compose an ode to it!
Ode to My Landing
A rattan sofa
Covered in silken threads woven with delicate Indian hands
What stories are told in these bright stitches?
Day after day
I sit here and read
I sit here and write
Surrounded by books
How to feed your baby books
How to plant your garden
How to talk to your teenagers, and get them to talk to you!
Books before I was a mother
Books I studied: poems, plays, politics, culture, history,
fairy stories, myths and legends, horror, art, trees, and even books about how
to make papier-mâché sculptures out of old news.
Well-thumbed books bought when just a child.
Books holding memories of walking through galleries…
Books picked up in second-hand stores, or antique shops on
rainy days and holidays.
Books belonging to family
Present and past
Inheritance books
A copy signed and dedicated to each of my children
Books that thread together lives.
‘Mum!’ the children holler when they return from school.
‘Where are you?’
‘Landing!’ I reply.
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