08 April 2011

A pair of poems (new).

i think i'd like to check myself out from the library
'cause i never return my books.
so, if i have a barcode and a beep and a due date,
i can return myself whenever i want, and
i can renew myself infinitely,
and if someone else wants to get a hold of me,
they can just recall me online, and poof,
i'll be delivered to their door,
or held at the circulation desk of their choosing.

but if i don't turn myself back in when
someone else recalls me,
i'll have to pay a fine--the cost of replacement.
and then where would i be?
i'd have to figure out
how much money i'm worth
to someone else
for the purpose of
redistributing the knowledge
i have to offer
forever,
or until my pages fall out and
my spine is broken
and i can't (be) rebound anymore.

and how much money could that possibly be?
more than i can afford, i'm sure.
and if i could afford to replace myself,
i could by a me of my own,
and i wouldn't need to check myself out from the library at all.
but i might want to anyway.

and, plus, at the library, they have perfect temperature control,
to keep mold from growing inside me
(i'm allergic to mold),
and if there's a new edition of me, they can replace the circulating me
with a fresh new introduction and cover,
at no cost to the me who borrows.

-+-


what if i'm a serial, with new issues every season,
and the skin i shed isn't dead at all,
but crumpled-up content for the cover art?
can i read my back issues? does Ulrich's index me?
i hope i show progression of thought.
and that i have good underwriting.
and cpoy-editng.