lonely book club

i haunt used bookstores
the few that remain
in this city or
any city now
that Amazon &
Kindle & poor
reading habits
are wiping them out

yesterday at
the state's biggest
used bookstore
the books looked lonely

little yellow paperbacks
crowded on shelves
crying "i was the best
selling book of 1955"
or "my author was the
toast of New York City
in the Sixties" or
"this historian won
the Pulitzer Prize"

there was no one
but me to listen
as the buyers hit
the used DVD
section stocking
up on movies based
on old TV shows
& classic films
& out-of-print
novels

so many lonely
old books &
so few readers

wouldbe authors
ought to meditate
on this

sweet surrender

give up on politics & religion
there's no future in all that
just keep your friends close
& your theology to yourself
talk to people you love
about how your day went
get DVDs and watch sports on TV
buy some wine, you'll need it