Exactly one hundred years ago today

Sylvia Beach published the first book edition

Of Ulysses by James Joyce

Stephen Molly and Leopold

Were the central characters

Virginia described it as tosh

Whereas Tom Eliot considered it very important

I visited Paris today

And sat outside Shakespeare and Company

It was about ten degrees

Not warm but certainly not cold

I purchased a worn copy of Ulysses

From a small bookshop in London

Just before I boarded my train

But I did not read it immediately

As I had decided to read Portrait

To develop the characters in my mind

Today is the 2nd of February 2022

020222/2222

The next time that this sequence will occur

is 030333/3333

160604 has no real sequence

But is important nonetheless

And is the reason that I travelled to Paris today

 

 

 

 

Dedicated to my son Brooke on the occasion of his birthday on the 2nd February

A date that he shares with James Joyce