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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > April > 01
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
R.I.P, the encyclopedia
I admit that I have always been a fact geek, back to my nerdy days as a kid when I pored through my parents’ World Book from front to back in my spare time, soaking up everything from the population of Gabon to the reign of Charlemagne, and I think back to those times a lot … namely, every time I’m playing Thursday night trivia for points at Bosco’s.
But I also admit that the same impulse has driven me to the web as a Wiki freak and a nutty late-night surfer … which led me a New York Times story that made me feel a little sad, a bit nostalgic and a whole lot not at all surprised.
After all, why would anybody plunk down all that money anymore for a huge family encyclopedia, when the entire world is now at their linked-up fingertips?
But then, but then… I felt a little sad… And I guess I still do…
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Today’s National Poetry Month poem
Today, as noted, is the first day of National Poetry Month! Here’s one I like. Enjoy!
“Samurai Song” by Robert Pinsky, from Jersey Rain.
When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.
When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.
When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.
When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir.
When I have no means fortune
Is my means. When I have
Nothing, death will be my fortune.
Need is my tactic, detachment
Is my strategy. When I had
No lover I courted my sleep.
