Open Books

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seattleweeklybestof | Seattle, WA | 62 Reviews

For any of you with dreams of becoming the next Maya Angelou or Pablo Neruda, you're in luck: One of two poetry-only bookstores in the nation is right here in Seattle (the other is in Massachusetts). I first heard of Open Books: A Poem Emporium through my poetry professor at the UW who instructed us to buy our class book from there. I expected brooding guys in turtlenecks to be lurking in the corners, but instead I walked in and was immediately charmed by the small space drenched in volume after volume of poetry. You can almost feel the authors' emotions pulsating off the walls. It can be a bit overwhelming, but husband-and-wife owners J.W. Marshall and Christine Deavel are helpful and knowledgeable. Marshall says Mary Oliver is always a popular choice, and when I told him I had to memorize one of her poems for a class, he quickly corrected me. "Got to," he said, "you got to memorize one of her poems." Touché.—Suzie Rugh