I am a Book (Long Poem)

jboelhow

I am a book
Beautiful in simplicity
An attractive cover to catch the eye
Unlimited opportunities inside
Pages upon pages
To write stories of love
Or hate
Sadness
Or joy
The past is written
The ink of the present is drying
And future doesn’t have page numbers yet
Don’t be fooled by the art of the cover
For the story is not written by Hollywood
As black as the ink it is written in
So is my story
I sometimes wonder how chapter one ever got told
Or why it continues

Like any book
In any library
On any shelf
I just want to be read
I don’t need to be on the New York Times best seller’s list
I only need someone to be moved after they read
To cry
Tears of laughter
Tears of Sorrow
To be their favorite book
To be the book they would choose
If they were going to be on a deserted island

But maybe that is the problem
My book isn’t that good
Soon I’ll find my self in some paper sack
“Five paperbacks for a quarter”
Apart of some fundraising library sale
I’ll be blindly bought
By a book lover
Who will open the bag at home
Pleasantly surprised by a classic
Maybe the Odyssey
Or a book of poems by Wordsworth
They will be disappointed
With the dime store romance
Then they will see me
“Interesting” they murmur as they read the summary
They will keep me
Thinking I’ll make a good summer read
Take me to the beach or lake
Or use me to pass the time on their deck

But somehow time passes
As life seems to do
And they add me to their garage sale
Thinking to themselves
“I should have read that one” as they place me on a table
With other discarded books
Hopefully I’ll be bought for a dime
Only to find myself stuck in this cycle
Passed from hand to hand
Until I’m battered and torn
Yet still unread
And tossed in a garbage bin

I am a book
Beautiful in simplicity
An attractive cover to catch the eye
Unlimited opportunities inside
Pages upon pages
To write stories of love
Or hate
Sadness
Or joy
Have you
Read any good books lately?

FinsburyParkCarrots

A recondite treasure.

Kwyjibo

recondite indeed
prodigiously recondite

jboelhow

I will say thank you for the responses with a big smile
I hope the ironic adjectives were a complement.

FinsburyParkCarrots

My adjective was a compliment, yes! I meant that your poem was recondite in the sense of being like a rare and wonderful book hidden in the back of someone's collection ready to be discovered; obscure, yes; but not recondite in its alternative senses of being obscurantist!

Great stuff. I always like your poems.

jboelhow

Originally posted by FinsburyParkCarrots
My adjective was a compliment, yes! I meant that your poem was recondite in the sense of being like a rare and wonderful book hidden in the back of someone's collection ready to be discovered; obscure, yes; but not recondite in its alternative senses of being obscurantist!

Great stuff. I always like your poems.

Thanks FinsburyParkCarrots. That's the beauty and sometimes trouble with words. I took the alternate meaning and correlated it with the simple idea "I am a book". I took it as a complement, I smiled when I read the posts because it was a clever response. Ok, I just ramble when I just wanted to say I appreciate yours and Kwyjibo's post.

Kwyjibo

yeah I liked it too... I was just being stupid