November 10, 2021

Got lucky in the charity shop this morning:

All of Walt Whitman for £2!

I wrote out a portion of The Song of the Open Road on a small piece of card once, to keep in my reading glasses case to remind me of what life's all about:

From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,

Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,

listening to others, considering well what they say,

Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,

Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me;

I inhale great draughts of space,

The east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.

It's still in there and I look at it often.

It's not my favourite poem though - that's Take One by Lauris Edmond. And Seafront by Laurie Lee. And The Layers by Stanley Kunitz. And others. Don't make me choose.

In another charity shop, I saw two items of clothing I had previously donated to a completely different charity shop. They were definitely mine as I tend to buy quirky stuff you don't see anywhere else. That was weird; I didn't know whether to be affronted or not.

In the Co-op, I succumbed to Christmas marketing with no regrets at all.

Today's Photo: Mince Pie Season