Listing to Port

I wouldn't sail this ship if I were you
Posts tagged lost things

Lost books

That book that you lent to someone and then they lent it to someone else, those books in that great lost library, that book that you saw floating far out to sea and it was always a mystery as to how it got there in the first place, books that end by eating themselves, books that end by eating you and consequently are believed to have been thrown in some great lost book jail, that book at the picturesque centre of that illustration of urban decay, that book that the vet had to remove from the dog, that book that you loved as a child and nobody would ever have thrown out but it’s still not here, the book that was propping up that thing that fell over, ice books that have melted, that book that would have truly changed the world if only that person had read it, that other book, that book that you thought you remembered but the physical version seems subtly different, the book that that awesome person wrote way back in time but then destroyed in some heartbreakingly romantic way, that book about book destruction that you ironically saw in someone else’s bin when checking down the street to see if a different stolen book had been flung in there, edible books that have been eaten, books tattooed on the bottoms of missing people, books that went into the removal van and did not come back out again, the records of lost cities, those that have flown away.

Friday categorization #5

0800 Lost things
 -0800.1 Recently lost
    –0800.23 Mittens
       —0800.231 Mittens placed on walls, railings and gates by helpful passers-by
    –0800.24 Stuffed bears, dogs and bunnies
       —0800.241 Those that are found again, to great joy
       —0800.242 Those that are not
          —-0800.2422 Those that are lost in airports at the start of a long journey
       —0800.243 Those that might have been found again, or might have been replaced by a duplicate, you are never quite sure
    –0800.25 Things that you know you put down just a moment ago
       —0800.251 Items that are in fact still on your person somewhere and obvious to a hypothetical bystander
       —0800.252 Items which you need to find to be able to find them
          —-0800.2521 Glasses
          —-0800.2522 Cups of coffee
 -0800.2 Long lost
    –0800.21 The subject of intense nostalgia
       —0800.211 Things for which the nostalgia does not align with the original reality
       —0800.212 The subject of sepia-tinted documentaries
    –0800.27 Things after the death of the last person who remembers them directly
    –0800.28 Things after the death of the last person who has heard the truth of them
    –0800.29 Things that have passed even out of story and rumour
 -0800.3 Things that are not lost, but know perfectly well where they are
    –0800.31 Things that are hiding
    –0800.32 Things that are mistaken about their location
       —0800.323 Confident walkers in mazes
 -0800.4 Things under sofa cushions
    –0800.41 Remote controls, keys and pens
    –0800.42 Food, dust and buttons
    –0800.43 Other sundry items
    –0800.44 Things that have passed into the main body of the sofa
       —0800.444 Things that are so valuable they require the dismantling of the sofa to retrieve
 -0800.5 That are the subject of humorous asides
    –0800.51 Marbles
       —0800.511 Literal marbles
    –0800.52 Virginity
       —0800.523 May or may not be lost, depending on whether a specific act counts or not
 -0800.6 Appetites, desires and dreams
 -0800.7 Cities, civilisations, treasure, ships, aeroplanes, etc.
    –0800.72 That in fact never existed in the first place
    –0800.73 Rumoured location is covered in dense jungle
    –0800.74 Rumoured location is under the sea
 -0800.8 Memories
    –0800.81 Of which only a ghost remains
       —0800.811 Memories that itch maddeningly at your thoughts when you smell a particular smell
       —0800.812 Things that you know you once knew
       —0800.813 Things that other people know you once knew

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