To All the Books Retired from Public Circulation
/Abbie Doll
i salute you.
for your dedicated service,
your loose weathered pages,
& curated collection
of mystery blemishes,
i salute you.
for your war-torn weary spines,
cracked with age and all-too-frequent use,
we salute your faded facades,
your handicapped masses
again. ~&~ again. ~&~ again.
thank you.
for embracing vulnerability,
sharing yourself with so many.
such admirable devotion—
permitting us to poke & prod
your textual guts, penetrating what’s written.
now, please allow me to pamper you.
savor the solitude,
the sanctitude, &
rejoice in this shamrock pasture
of a well-earned retirement
resting atop a well-dusted sturdy shelf.
Author’s Note: I buy a lot of used books, many of which were once library books and have very clearly been through the wringer. In this poem, I considered the trajectory of their "lives" of servitude, added a bit of a Veterans Day spin, and voilà!
Abbie Doll is a writer residing in Columbus, OH, with an MFA from Lindenwood University and is a fiction editor at Identity Theory. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in Door Is a Jar Magazine, Full House Literary, and The Bitchin’ Kitsch, among others. Connect on socials @AbbieDollWrites.
