bad book, bad poem

bad book, bad poem

 

 

you opened me and read page one

my initial paragraph couldn't draw your attention

I know I could have had you by page two

 

but you closed me up 

and returned me to the library

where I sat back on the shelf waiting for 

another's hands to thumb through me,

even just to look at my cover

 

read the blurbs of my faithful heart

how I would have given anything to excel in your plot

to be the most agreeable character for your taste

but once again, my dust cover gathers

lonely particles

little pieces of me racing from an ending

back to the preface

 

before I saw you the first time

before you took a chance on me 

and brought me home with you

you slid under the covers as I dreamed

of possibilities

counting page numbers we would turn together

 

but you got halfway through my first page,

flipped me onto the night table

shut out the moonlight

 

and left me a shadow on a shelf

dreaming of our almost night together

and the weekend we might have had.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

5/8/2020

Reviews

[Relic]

This is pretty relatable to me. I've had a bunch of bad books in my past. If I only knew the right way to revise.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

my life has too many edits to read smoothly.
thank you, Relic,
j.

[Chris Shaw]

What a great metaphor here for a relationship which is over before it started. I heard you singing, "take a chance on me", but it fell on deaf ears. You know for my sins I am a huge ABBA fan :) Somehow I think this she in the poem, is lightweight. She didn't dig beneath the surface :) No staying power. Her loss.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I am an ABBA fan as well...thank you for your words, Chris...

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I am one to believe as writers our work has a life of its own. When they are put upon page they seek a home in a reader's heart who takes a chance on them for entertainment or knowledge purposes. This wonderful forlorn poem reminds me of those works that almost never find a home at all. The message of this poem lingers in my mind, thank you, Jacob for this amazing piece of writing.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind review, Carlos.
j.