Damp Books as Building Material

Too Many Books

There are too many books to read.

Books remaindered.

A flood of unopened books.

In Venice a bookshop, known as Aqua Alta,
uses books as building material.

They at first loaded books into gondolas
so that when the water in the canals rose and flooded
the bookshop, the books would float in the boats.

This was never going to work.

The books got soaked.

They had many ruined books.

They stacked them next to the canal,
to have them taken away.
But no one would take them away.

So, they stacked the books into a stairway
you can go there and climb the book staircase
and look down the narrow canal,
to the right and to the left.

Or you can pet the cats who sleep on top
of the books when the light is just right.

Damp books make poor building material.

Neither wet nor dry are cats
a reliable building material.


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