From My Big Orange Book

     Some years ago—actually, it must have been over a decade ago—I purchased from my neighborhood Barnes and Noble in Houston a huge blank book. Sizing in at 8.5 x 11 x 1 and weighing in at about three or four pounds, it is patently impractical as a schlep-around journal. Open, it would take up half the table in a cafe.

     Why did I buy it? It was on sale for five bucks. Reason enough for me. And as I heaved its burnt orange cloth bound poundage onto the checkout counter, I thought, "I'll find a use for it someday."

     It sat on my shelf for several weeks, then it came to me: I would copy in it any poem or part of a poem, any quotation or prose passage or song lyric, that spoke to me in a meaningful and lasting way. I had already copied many of these things into my journals over the years, but now I would have a single volume in which to gather, peruse, and reference them. Huzzah!

     I hasten to say that I did not own a computer at that time—but even if I did, I probably would still have copied the texts by hand into the book. That's just the kind of person I am. Here's what I wrote on the flyleaf:

Herein I have copied down poems, passages, phrases, etc. that have touched me or merely caught my fancy. Much handier to have them all in one single volume, don't you think? I have to say, however, that I probably will not copy one of my favorite poems of all time—"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"—because it's just too bloody long!

 

P. S.  I knew I'd find a use for this damn book.

     So I decided that, from time to time, I would post an entry or two from my Big Orange Book, beginning today. The entries on the first page are two short poems by Emily Dickinson. Are we surprised?

Ample make this bed -
Make this Bed with Awe -
In it wait till Judgment break
Excellent and Fair.

Be it's Mattress straight -
Be it's Pillow round -
Let no Sunrise' yellow noise
Interrupt this Ground -

* * *

Heart! We will forget him!
You and I - tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave -
I will forget the light!

When you have done, pray tell me
That I may straight begin!
Haste! Lest while you're lagging
I remember him!


     I also wrote, on the page facing these poems:

There seems to be quite a lot of Emily Dickinson in this volume. Not surprising - she is my favorite. I just want to make clear that all errors in spelling & punctuation are hers - taken from the R. W. Franklin edition. I, for some silly reason, didn't want you to think I had bad spelling & patchy knowledge of punctuation!

     Obviously, I mean for the Big Orange Book to be left, along with my journals and poetry, to my family after my passing. I do plan for the future, you know.