Paper or Plastic? An Appalling Prospect

I saw him in my bookstore.

He, barely of shaving age, is wearing a blue, pin-point

oxford, emblazoned with a dazzling, colorful

corporate moniker - undoubtedly, a new sales recruit from the local college.

I gave him a full ten seconds of eye contact.

Here, in the middle of holy ground; a sanctuary for verse;

a place of literary covenant; a place where

I go to hold and caress books,

drinking in their words - no, their wisdom -

with ravenous appetite; stands this icon of a synthetic age.

He is glorying in the latest offering of technology and plastic

this, this digital book.

I am appalled.

I want to tell him but he won’t understand.

I want to impart to him the passion, but he would never feel it.

He should know how I lie down in the evening with

Poe, or Tennyson, or Dickens, or Austen, or any number of brilliant lovers.

He should see the torrid page turning, as I drink them in,

tasting the fruit of their mind.

He might be amused at the scattering of literature in and around

my bed, stacked on nightstands, and neatly bookended on shelves.

I leave them as they are - trophies of triumph, pillars of idolism.

Yes, there may even be several at a time sharing my pillows.

Why, once I lay with Shakespeare and Dante for two weeks straight.

I’ve had them all! I’ve had them all.  I have had them all.

And now he wants to offer me the “convenience” of a plastic, electronic,

ergonomically designed book?  A prostitute. A literary w***e.

Does he not know the pleasure of gently thumbing the pages

of a book and of feeling her spine surrender under an appreciative touch?

Has he never fell asleep while being lulled

by the whispers of Alcott or Dickinson?

And miracle of miracles, after hearing their whispers

and sleeping soundly at their side -  when the sun dances across

bed linens there they remain. They are faithful lovers.

No, I’ll not power-down before sleeping.

I shall never succumb to the synthetic, LED ejaculations

of a plastic book.

This lover of literature will always choose paper.