I am a secondhand book.
Not quite
the heavily discounted castoff.
Most of my contemporaries
are long out of print.
My cover wrinkled;
spine – bent and loose.
The people who have
known my pale pages
have left scribbled notes
and dog-eared place markers.
At this stage,
I need someone to buy me
and handle me gently
because of a love we once shared
and to read my words again
on a dark, rainy night
so, I may warm their soul.
The almost empty bargain bin
looms just below.

---

R. Gerry Fabian is a published poet and novelist.
He has published five books of poetry. Parallels,
Coming Out Of The Atlantic, Electronic Forecasts,
Wildflower Women as well as his poetry baseball book,
Ball On The Mound. In addition, he has published
four novels : Getting Lucky (The Story),
Memphis Masquerade, Seventh Sense and Ghost Girl.
His web page is https://rgerryfabian.wordpress.com
Twitter @GerryFabian2
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gery3397/
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerry-fabian-91353a131/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010099476497
He lives in Doylestown, PA