Water Logs Poem by Sadiqullah Khan
Water Logs
Watermelons are sliced parodies
of wood logs. Perhaps in the early cold
Winter for my hearth I needed logs
floating in water and drying in dust
eaten by termite, but ‘responded’ well
to Rossetti, Donne and Thomas Hardy.
He welcomes you to sit by the fireside;
and offers wine, for ye need to be sleepy
to listen or read. But a worthwhile log
to fan the fire – The book is no good either.
The last page reads a dying wish by the publisher.
In verbatim,
“Looking for the perfect gift
For the poetry lover in your life?
Or perhaps you would like to pamper yourself?
If so consider one of our deluxe editions.
‘The Giant Book of Poetry’
and ‘Thoughts I Left Behind’
are available in leather bound versions
with hubbed spine accented with 22kt
Gold, lustrous moiré fabric endsheets.
acid-neutral paper, gilded page ends,
and a permanently bound-in satin ribbon
page marker. A limited copy of these are
available signed and numbered.”
After reading I threw the book in the hearth
and sipped my wine dry.
-on reading ‘Thoughts I left Behind’ by William H. Roetzheim
Sadiqullah Khan
Islamabad
November 28,2013.
“Dark green Oasis goatskin, gold-tooled with dots. The raised design extends across both covers, and parts of it are built up with millboard and balsawood. The gold-tooling, after the portrait of Bernard Middleton in the text, was done using only a 26 Pt. full stop. The doublures and flyleaves are of handmade Nepalese dragon paper, and other endleaves are handmade New Zealand flax paper. Top edge gilt. Sewn on five thin tapes, using the French method. Gold silk double headband, green tailband. Black cloth drop-hack box with a gold, tooted and lettered green leather label, lined with black silk-covered pads to take the raised design on the boards.”
Private Collection.
One of the masters of the trade; Bernard C. Middleton received training in hand bookbinding in the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, served an apprenticeship in the British Museum Bindery, was a Craftsman-Demonstrator at the Royal College of Art from 1949 to 1951, was the manager of Zaehnsdorf, Ltd. in London, and from 1953 has been the proprietor of his own book restoration business.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/25/2024 5:44:11 PM # 1.0.0.1119
