In the UQ library, remembering good ol Fisher…
Tucked away behind the sandstone veneer
cool air washes out.
The smell of musty pages
connects familiar memories
of beige, metallic shelves;
sorting shelves;
photocopiers, giant staplers;
Dewey decimal
Archibald artwork.
Fines (low on rent money) and the Closed Reserve.
The infitite products of collective late nights.
Countless rights of passage for
heavily esteemed and long forgotten authors.
Drowning in multisyllabic streams of wisdom,
catalogued spines set on display
in lonely, poorly lit rows.
Kelli McGraw 
#1 by Jan on February 8, 2010 - 10:16 pm
I love the contrast between the pitcure formed by the words and the picture formed by the accompanying image. “Of light, of Liberty and of Learning” > “musty pages, familiar memories, long forgotten, drowning” A powerful piece Kelli, expressing sadness and excitement at the same time. And now what is behind the plastic veneer?
#2 by M Dahms on February 9, 2010 - 5:46 am
Oh, now I remember spending so many hours there . . . (and paying so many fines there)
#3 by kmcg2375 on February 9, 2010 - 3:06 pm
Thanks for the comments 🙂
Jan the plastic veneer at least seems to hide something that’s alive. I know it’s only an illusion – so many dead websites out there. Many more unread websites than books I’d guess. But big real-life libraries sometimes give me the creeps with their lonely, forgotten feeling…