Four Minutes

If you only had four minutes at a well-stocked library what would you get?

This week was special at Camp Mommy as our youngest had a birthday and all she wanted were two things: a trip to the zoo and an appointment to get her ears pierced. And what kid wouldn’t want to hang out with animals all day and get their body perforated with jewelry?

We went to the local tattoo parlor to see Owen Beane, who was absolutely amazing and probably the coolest guy in the vicinity of Cambridge. I highly recommend him if you have any little kids who need their ears pierced. 

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This week we also had an odd library trip. As the kids and I entered the building we noticed that all the outside doors were propped open with box fans. A woman at the desk told us that the library would be closing in fifteen minutes because the air conditioning broke down. I told the girls to go to the children's section, and I ran to get my book on the “hold shelf” (I perpetually have a book on this shelf) then I dashed up the stairs to the adult section of the library.

As I headed into the first stack I heard a voice, “Miss, we are closing in four minutes.”

“Wait…I was told fifteen.”

“That’s for the first floor. The top floors are shutting down in four.”

[expletive]

I wasn’t even going to borrow books for myself on this trip, but there is something about scarcity that triggers something primal in most people, and certainly in me.

You have four minutes in a library. What do you get?

I suppose this becomes some type of personality test. Like that question, If you were stuck on a deserted island for an indeterminate amount of time what three books would you want with you?¹

In four minutes, what sections would you go to? How many books? Which books? Fiction? Mystery? Music?

During my scramble I got a slim summary of Aristotle’s Poetics by Kenneth MacLeish and two small introductions for Pre-Socratic philosophy and Aristotle. We have multiple complete works of Aristotle and other philosophers, but I like seeing how some writers distill great books. The Epictetus book is very easy to read, and I find most stoic writings to be like comfort food.

Reading ancients is so refreshing to me because it feels like an exercise in forgiveness. In our current climate of cancellation it can be useful to read philosophers, dramatists, and poets who lived in different times and had a much more limited understanding of the world. One cannot understand the truth of what ancients are saying when holding a modern moral bias against them. The reality is that human nature has not changed much, but the technologies around us have. Language, travel, commerce, government, scientific discovery… these often just seem like complications to what has the most influence over our health and happiness: human relationships, to each other and to ourselves.

After philosophy I literally sprinted to the poetry section to try to get a copy of The Complete Works of Wallace Stevens so I could read “The Emperor of Ice Cream” in print.² Alas, I was stopped short by a librarian and found myself by the French symbolists. Though Charles Baudelaire was staring me down, I grabbed the Complete Works of Arthur Rimbaud that contained side-by-side French and English versions of his poems. (This is probably the influence of

Patti Smith

working on me.)

As I was leaving I instinctively pulled Dante. I had been listening to the Clive James translation on long runs, but I am also a fan of

Anthony Esolen

, and his translations feature the original Italian beside the English.

The book to the right of the pile is the one I had on hold. I actually own God Human Animal Machine as an audiobook and e-book but I wanted to review parts in physical form. Dostoyevsky’s The Brother’s Karamazov was mentioned in it and Meghan O'Gieblyn sided with Ivan and his Grand Inquisitor. She comes from an evangelical Christian background and has made the transition to humanism, and you see her grapple with issues of technology and faith throughout the book. It is a thought provoking writing.

And here is one more library find from an earlier run… The Sparrow. People have been recommending this book to me for ages so I am glad I am finally getting to it now. I was honestly having a hard time with the unrealistic romantic depiction of the Society of Jesus, but I am glad I muscled through.

Also, I just finished Wendell Berry’s Hannah Coulter, Nathan Coulter, and Jayber Crow in quick succession. It was well worth the tour of Port William.

Now for the twenty other books I wanted to finish before the end of July…

Podcast News

On another note, I am working on the podcast idea: Poetry Mixtape. I am coming up with my lists now, and I plan to start in August. Thanks for all your support and patience. This is going to be really great!

1. For me it’s the Bible, Riverside Shakespeare, Riverside Chaucer.

2. You can find a great annotated copy of the poem here:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45234/the-emperor-of-ice-cream

Also, my birthday is coming up if anyone wanted to get me a collection of Wallace Stevens…