Eulogy to Mr. Paperback

A Psalm to Reading

I don't want to hear the empty numbers,
To tell me literacy is in decline.
For the mind is dead that slumbers,
And to that death I would not resign.

Here is the decree: Information is free!
Though genocide is not the mission;
Casualties seem to come inevitably-
One cannot unmake that decision.

Not moving pictures, and not the glowing page
Is the book's predestined end.
But to be read through another age
So that each new generation can comprehend.

Creations live beyond those who created,
And our wits though quick and clever
Without exercizing become outdated,
As they cannot be sharpened with the pull of a lever.

In eddification's field of war,
I fear we've lost another battle,
But today's is not the final score-
And the end is not coming with a silent death rattle.

By rushing blindly to the aid of the meme
They failed to predict the obvious consequence.
They must now mourn the passing of a dream-
And observe the result of action with proper cognizance.

Memories of places now gone remind us,
We cannot turn back an unleashed tide.
But we can hold their nostaliga thus,
And going forth take their glory's side-

So that with them their dream fails to end.
Those to come will know reading's pleasure
And though this all ills does not mend;
It's better than such leisure disappearing forever.

Let us then go forth and read.
And though the bookstore now is dead
Let us in our children plant literacy's seed
So they have the wit to forge the road ahead.

Eulogy is in the style of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 'Psalm of Life'.




Mr. Paperback, a bookstore chain that was in operation for over fifty years is closing it's doors for good in the coming months. Unlike Borders Mr. Paperback wasn't driven out of business by poor business practices or bankruptcy but rather the decision to get out of what is turning into a failing business. It's become clear that the bookstore may be a obsolete model but the book itself it still alive and well.

The Death of Borders

Friends, readers, literates; spare me your thoughts for a moment
I say goodbye to Borders and not heap its praises
the corruption and bad practices of corporations often live after them
the good ideas that they had will be liquidated with their inventory
the devoted employees that worked for them will be the first turned from their doors
so let it be with Borders
in its time- just fifteen years- Borders did many things
with their major competitor was their biggest accomplishment achieved;
the pioneering of the Big Box Bookstore co-created with Barnes & Nobel
to their credit is also responsibility for the graphic novel boom
and they will be remembered for bringing pastries and caffeine to their stores-
a concept which cannot be removed from the heads of their consumers
but despite the veneer Borders suffered from an inner sickness
poor management hobbled them
near-sighted misunderstanding of how the Internet works dealt a grievous wound
relying on the mysterious cure-all of branding over business sped their decline
a business plan that did not make money led to their ultimate failure
they serviced the faceless masses and primarily opened stores in underserved areas
and yet the corporate world has deemed that their customer base isn't worth as much as their inventory
from the way that people speak of Borders while it's still being inhumed-
one would think that three times they would have crowned it-
if only bookstores could wear crowns
yet I doubt if presented that Borders would have three times refused
still- I wish not to praise Borders or to spit on its name-
I wish only to present what important notes about its life as I can
many did love Borders once and it was not without cause that they loved
so why not now grieve for this passed giant?
if you grieve for Borders you may feel your heart is in the ground with it
but please let us pause so it may come back to you
because as surely as Borders is dead there was a reason that you loved it
and that reason is the same reason you must take your heart back
Borders was first and last a bookstore
and any love that lay with them had its heart first and last within books
so surely Borders may be worth mourning
but you would do yourself wrong and books wrong and authors wrong
if in mourning Borders you say this is the death of books
books existed sixteen years ago and forty years ago and, indeed, eight years ago-
eight years ago when Borders was at its peak of thirteen hundred stores
but though Borders will soon be gone books will remain
so after you have grieved for Borders or cursed its name
I invite you to start a new book or begin a new chapter
because the death of Borders cannot and will not be the death of books