Les walking down the street in CT Photo by MDG

Les performing in CT Photo by MDG

first in a long line of lasts

I went to a local bookstore
today and while I was
there I noticed something;
all the books of poems
were placed together on
a large table in the center
with a sign above
them that read:
"SALE" in big white letters
on red background.

All the works were there:
the great, the good and
even lesser, but nobody
was bothering to stop
and thumb at the pages.
In fact, it looked as if hardly
a one had been
disturbed.

I looked to the music
section, madly a buzz
with the shelves half
empty. The movie
section looked
much the same
and there weren't
even any sales
to be had there
either.

I felt a great shift
as if the earth had
tilted on its
axis ever so
slightly, nearly toppling
a stack of
cookbooks
by the checkout.
somewhere,
somebody is working at
screws
with an electric
screw-driver,
a hyena weeps
in the night,
two fools make
another play
at love.

not fresh
but expected

enduring
but not necessarily
true

not right
yet a few chromosomes short
of being wrong

it's just as well

for us

and the rest
of us too.

© 2008 Lester Allen/PA

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