Kramer Books

When taking the Metro to the theatre I have learned to pad the time by 30-45 minutes to be safe.  On this gorgeous afternoon I arrived with that time to spare and spent it in my favorite independent book store, one of the best in America, Kramer's Books on Connecticut Avenue.  My exploration ended in three whim purchases.

"The Immeasurable World: Journeys in Desert Places" by William Atkins.  Picked this up on a total whim and popped it open to page 137 and read: "The translation of "Taklamakan" favoured by Western explorers --"You go in and you don't come out"--bemuses the locals."  In one randomly selected sentence I knew two things: 1) Arkins is British, and 2) I wanted to know why they were bemused.  Sometimes falling in love with a book is just that simple.

"How to Walk" by Thich Nhat Hanh.  I've been thinking about my walking a lot lately.  Feeling how my body works in the moment.  The souls of my feet and my weight rockes across them from heal to toe.  The slack and pull of my lateral muscles in rhythm with my hips and arms.  Some call this mindfulness, but I am more interested in simply thinking of it as being alive.  Perhaps this Buddhist master will offer wisdom in this particular moment of thirst.

"Wild is the Wind" poems by Carl Phillips.  I have a couple of his earlier collections and in my opinion his is that uncommon poet that just gets better and better with time.  Reading the opening poem and again I was hooked.  The plain, yet evocative language and the obvious meanings of the words assemble in a way that suggests a labyrinth of meanings while still sounding lyrical to my inner ear.

COURTSHIP

--Both things, I think.  But less the hesitation of many hands
touching the stunned dethronement of the master's body, than
their way of touching it again; again. Each time, more surely.

~ Carl Phillips