Overdue Poems

Poor Folk

The book on her nightstand

is by Dostoevsky, one of

his early novels. She

studied him in college,

wrote a master’s thesis on

The Brothers Karamazov, his final.

The main character works as a copyist,

frequently belittled and picked on

by colleagues. His clothes

are worn and dirty. His

cousin is from the country.

He is in love.

But a rich man

proposes. She slowly

becomes accustomed to money

and leaves the copyist

alone. His plea goes

unanswered.

The book goes

unfinished. She has lost momentum.

Life happens too quickly. Two

full-time jobs leave no time

for Russian novels, only

Russian vodka.

-

It Speaks

A book begins to speak,

tells me how lonely it is

in dusty stacks,

            especially

for a book of poems.

Only poets

read poetry,

            unless

for academic assessment

or love inspires a search for clichés.

I take the poor thing home,

prove the truth it speaks,

            a poet

granting poetry

its only wish.

-

"Poor Folks" and "It Speaks" were published in Overdue Poems, a chapbook of work by members of the Wright Library Poets in Celebration of Libraries, Reading and Books, compiled and edited by Grace Curtis and Elizabeth Schmidt and made possible by a grant from the Wright Memorial Public Library Foundation.

Eric