Gains & Losses
 
 
Bargain

 
Pleased with my purchase,
I return from the used-book store
only to discover
that the flyleaf
of William Stafford's
Selected Poems
bears an inscription
of undying love.
 
Literally.
 
"I will love you forever,"
is what it says.
 
David and Elaine.
 
I paid $6 for the copy
and had to wipe
the dust off
with a cloth.
 
Fastidiously,
I tear the flyleaf loose
and settle down to read
a collection called
The Darkness Around Us
Is Deep
.
 

 







Copyright 2009,  Iain Macdonald

Born and raised in Glasgow,  Scotland,  Iain Macdonald has earned his bread and beer in a variety of ways,  from factoryhand to merchant marine officer. He currently lives in Arcata, California,  where he works as a high school English teacher. His chapbook Plotting the Course is available from March Street Press.



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