Sunday 25 May 2014

In Secondhand Heaven


Come in! Come in!
Look around, take your time.
You’re sure to find what you’re looking for.
A chair, a table?
Take it, cheap at twice the price.
A desk, as good as new, not a mark on it.
Nobody ever sat here and wrote their heart out.
There’s the lamp to go with it.
Perfect.
What more could you possibly want?
Have you seen the armchair? 
Take a pew, take the weight off, read a book;
books we have too, the best authors, writers you will find in no bookstore;
snapped up they were, long ago, classics well hidden from view.
You want toys? 
Pictures?
Posters for your walls?
You came to the right place, it’s all here.
An Aladdin’s cave of treasure.

I can see you’d love to splurge,
furnishing your own little nest, are you?
setting up home together?

Don’t be shy, tell me what you want
and you shall have it.
And just for you,
I’ll throw in the planter.

A fool to myself, that’s what I am.
Never could resist young love.




A contribution to Magpie Tales. Click on the link and you will find many more.



42 comments:

  1. I want everything in that shop. Everything.

    XO
    WWW

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  2. Gorgeous - I want to spend an hour there - and I want to meet that shopkeeper - a bit like You, I think. Soft to the core.

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  3. Looking at the image
    would love to browse in that shop
    and probably would buy much
    I do not need :)
    Where is it ?

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  4. heerlijk om daar te gaan struinen.

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  5. For me, your title said it all! Great write ~ I could live in this room for days!

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  6. That is EXACTLY where I want to shop! And you nailed it perfectly!

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  7. I would enjoy browsing in that shop.

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  8. Hallo Friko,
    interessante Idee, rund um ein Bild eine Geschichte zu erzählen. Habe ich auf deutschen Blogs so noch nicht gesehen, lediglich, dass rund um vorgegebene Wörter eine Geschichte erzählt werden soll. Die Geschichte passt gut zu den Antiquitäten-Läden.

    Gruß Dieter

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  9. An Aladdin’s cave of treasure, for sure. You've caught the spirit of the image exactly.

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  10. Oooh. Settled into that comfy chair, browsing those books, looking up from time to time revelling in the atmosphere. Lovely.

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  11. Once we reach a certain point of experience in life, every thing, place and situation speaks to us, as you demonstrate SO beautifully in this fine post.

    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  12. I haven't seen a shop like that for years. Or got the vibe you write about either. I wonder if they still exist? My mood (and the weather) suits nostalgia today, so your post hits the spot for me.

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  13. I've always enjoyed strange old shops. Sadly, no time or money to visit such places these days.
    My bit is here. It is an introduction to one of the wild characters that inhabit my team's crazy alternative reality!

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  14. ha. the eclectic shops are a fav of mine for sure...so many interesting treasures...
    the last line kinda throws this on its head...

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  15. Nice description to the picture and charming ending :)

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  16. You have a future in advertising! Just leave the last three lines out!

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  17. Your writing sets the scene, and the photo is an extra plus. Rooms with so much going on make me claustrophobic. I would need some air for sure!

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  18. How utterly lovely Friko! :-)

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  19. I LOVE secondhand shops.
    I avoid them like the plague, because once I step inside hours will pass before I step out again.
    It has been a good while since I was in one though, perhaps I could just have a quick look.....

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  20. Hello,

    How did you guess that this is exactly our kind of shop? Whether in Brighton or Budapest, these are the kinds of places where we are to be found. And, we love searching for hidden treasure.....things that others may well regard as junk!

    But, your picture could not be in Hungary where a bust of Lenin is de rigeur in every second hand shop!

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  21. Who's been taking photos in my flat ?

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  22. Isn't it just grand to sift through the thrift shop - peeking here and there and you have to go round a few times, for each time you see something that hadn't caught your eye the last trip around. I like this poem and it just makes me want to run right to the shop. Great Poem Friko.

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  23. That white vase, I want it! How much is?
    Love secondhand.

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  24. That's beautiful!! We have shops like that here in the tiny Central, Kentucky town that I live in and I love going in there. They have so many remnants and memories of so many eras.

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  25. Friko, when I first saw the photograph, I thought I was looking at a doll's house, filled with miniature versions of all sorts of treasures. Your words completed the picture.

    Not many such shops left in Manhattan, although there are lots of charity thrift shops that don't have too many bargain prices. Still fun to wander through the aisles and compose back stories to go with certain donated items.

    xo

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  26. Good poem. But I am surprised at how I slightly recoiled to see that second hand stuff. I am obviously going off it, so perhaps my attempt to be a minimalist is starting to work! :)

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  27. Friko, I'd be interested in your reaction to my German-themed post this week...

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  28. Really loved this. It caught me up into a whole new scene, and I think I want to see the movie. 😊

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  29. Old furniture and objects seem to have an aura and character all their own. What a wonderful place to shop and snoop. :)

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  30. Now that's a poem that I'd like to see hung up in the shop.

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  31. it's always fun to wander through and see what pops up!

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  32. Dear Friko, you are so multi-talented. And you have such a command of image and word. Peace.

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  33. Frank has a desk and chair similar to that. He'll be moving it in here soonish.. if it fits through the door.

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  34. I have an old oak desk much like the one in the picture. I love second hand shops.

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  35. In the dusty, blasted Australian outback , occasionally Granny dies and all her treasures are sold off in what we call a "clearing sale ", amongst all the dust and flies there are little treasures and trinkets , flying ducks and silver plates commemorating the queens birthday ...it is all so incongruous and " priscilla , queen of the outback " , you know ? , but after the sale has concluded, an ancient silence descends again ...cheers mate

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  36. Hi Friko - a shop for magpies .. all things .. oh to browse and have a need ...

    Cheers Hilary

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  37. You have missed your vocation Friko! Great salesperson.

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Comments are good, I like to know what you think of my posts. I know you'll keep it civil.