Layton

i found you used
in the back of a book store
silvering with age
dog eared
smelling of mold
100 sides of you
for five dollars

i brought you home
fingered your pages
as a new lover might
slowly
with intent
then faster and more furious
i found myself
nourished
pregnant
inspired

post-coital tristesse
not with the work or words
or the scope of my inability
rather
that I could buy you
cracked spine
torn
in a used book store
for five dollars

Michael Lorne Leard