Struck

Struck - the scene is struck,
the set, the stage, the theatre too -
a million nights out, a thousand matinees,
plays, pantos, performances struck
from the pages of bolt and screw
and brick and pane, lost days
of double features, Pathe News,
the thrice daily programme of social glue
unstuck, experiences of boos and praise.

Now, a ship beached, whose
time has come for a last curtain call;
unrigged, stripped, the final run through,
no more rehearsals, late night dispersals to booz-
ers, flea-ridden digs. Both circle and stall
no more, have gone, demolished. Time struck.

Bookonomics: The £2 Rule

Today I broke the rule, and paid the price.

Last night (probably this morning) I ordered various Tiptrees via Amazon and the Carter edition of the Perrault fairy tales, the latter because I've been looking for it for years, as opposed to needing it for anything.

Today, in a trip to Whitstable, I rejected a book I was sorta looking for even though it was a pound.

Whom the gods wish to destroy...

In Harbour Books, a copy of the Carter/Perrault fairy tales - but apparently at cover price and not cheaper than I paid. Then in a charity shop - Up the Walls of the World, for 50p. This is cheaper than I paid on Amazon (53p plus postage). But it's a shot across the bows. To precipitate (is that the word?) Biblious, I had to buy it.

When I got home there was the Auden Plays waiting for me - and earlier in the week I got Prose Vol II. That's Prose Vol III awaited - and I suspect at the sorting office.