HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The name “Burnwater” came from an integrative art event inspired by the work of the blacksmith John Little. Now, it’s the name of his independent bookstore.
Joshua Fleming has operated Burnwater Books since 2022. He said the store’s name came after he developed an interest in blacksmithing.
“The act of reading can offer us a reorientation, a verticality to our horizontal axis of being, teaching us about grief, about solace, authenticity, friendship, compassion, curiosity, love, wisdom, devotion, stillness, humility, grace, determination, about survival, about creating, about greed, violence, suffering, power, death and birth, about our past and what is still to come, what it is to be human,” Fleming told News 19.
Top 3 Recommended Books
Fleming:
- “The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology” by James Hillman, Michael J. Meade and Robert Bly
- “The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson”
- “The Way of Zen” by Alan Watts
What do books and reading mean to you?
Fleming: Reading for myself is an exercise in attention. It creates a space for silence and reflection. I believe it to be essential to live a good life: food, shelter, music, companionship and books. Reading allows for an internal dialogue, the ideas, images, and stories presented on the page are given over to you by the author as if they are a set of forgotten keys and if you are open and remain attentive sometimes doors will unlatch within your own imagination, within your psyche and everything is forever changed.
How important is reading, and how has it shaped our society?
Fleming: Society,and/or culture, has been said to be only three days deep. Humanities, many religious and societal norms, including our small talk about the weather, how so-and-so is doing, who is winning, who is losing, our day-to-day operations, sports, movies, politics, who is trending, all the masks we wear, who we think we are within this tapestry is only residing a few feet below the surface.
The act of reading, whether poetry or prose, should not offer us an escape from this reality, but rather a deepening of what really matters within it. The act of reading can offer us a reorientation, a verticality to our horizontal axis of being, teaching us about grief, about solace, authenticity, friendship, compassion, curiosity, love, wisdom, devotion, stillness, humility, grace, determination. About survival, about creating, about greed, violence, suffering, power, death and birth. About our past and what is still to come, what it is to be human.
Reading also helps us maintain our long-standing accord with the mysterious, with awe, with the unanswerable questions at the center of our being. Humanity today seems to be further immersed in a state of ever regressing division, between ourselves, between the natural more than human world around us. I believe reading opens the passage for true dialogue to continue, both internal and external, for generative conversation to unfold authentically, the more expansive our reading is, the more expansive our language, our attention and perception is, and thus our ability for greater empathy and true understanding. Reading allows us to apprehend how we operate within the collective, to appreciate and accept our own interdependent residency here on earth as an essential part to the story of its becoming.
What is challenging about owning an independent bookstore? What have you learned?
Fleming: The most challenging aspect is attempting to maintain balance with what I’m personally passionate about in curating and what others may find more intriguing or meaningful. Since I decide about 99 percent of what books I am ordering, it can be difficult to decide which books end up in the final order. I have learned that bookselling often opens up insightful conversations that otherwise never would have materialized without the architecture of the bookstore.
Talk about how you curate the book selection being sold at Burnwater Books.
Fleming: I am interested in books that, even if they are mostly imaginative in scope, are still grounded in some personal experience, something that happened to the author along the way giving weight and grit to the story, poem or essay. As the poet Charles Olson said, “whatever you have to say, leave the roots on, let them dangle, and the dirt, just to make clear where they come from.” I attempt to find literature that is layered with intent, more questions posed, less easy answers, something that creates a lasting shock to the nervous system, possibly awakening some latent possibility within oneself. The majority of the curation at Burnwater is centered around poetry, philosophy, religious studies and literary fiction.
You can check out the Burnwater Books website to see what’s in stock.
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