Lament for the Loss of a Poetry Section​

Issue 16

It was hard to find poetry books
even traveling to a locally-owned store
that might have poetry, even a chapbook,
that wasn’t popular, emotional fluff
or a reprinted triage of words
fraught with sophistry and poetry therapy,
certainly no treatment of free verse expression.
 
The store’s façade was painted
like a cartoonish wall of books. I entered
to a bell choir. Still, I walked around defenses
of a maze of shelves to the back of the store
and the smell of postmortem paper.
 
Not there, not anywhere, I sighed.
Poetry wasn’t a dedicated section
somewhere near, anywhere to be found.
 
There were old books—gifts inscribed
to friends, snooty bookplates like deeds,
spines with Dewey Decimal band aides
and prices penciled tragically on front
free end papers. Some claimed,
"first editions," lacking bibliophile
authority, on mixed-up, makeshift shelves.
 
There in a soliloquy, while browsing,
I lost hope, but looked to the books,
How are we to make choices?
How are we to know love and forgiveness,
the difference between beauty and blighted
stains, loss and gain, contempt and grace,
a heartfelt embrace or a breach of faith?
 
Even the wall of books looked fallen, missing
their poetic companions, offering only tears
of dust. They were in no rush to leave home.
 
Lured by an unexpected score, I paid the price
and exited, exposed by the announcement
of those busybody bells.
 
At least, under the sunlight, I photographed
the Three Lions Fountain in the square, so I left
with a souvenir—a megabyte of pointless
memories and three free bookmarks to mark
the startling genius of a poet’s mind.

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Kenneth Boyd, winner and judge of the Royal Palm Literary Award (RPLA), is a neurodivergent poet and former jazz musician. His poetry appears in Wayfarer Magazine, Unlost, Flora Fiction, Of Poets & Poetry, Viewless Wings, The Ekphrastic Review, and elsewhere. His collection, Grasshopper Dreams, was released in 2023. Kenneth is a graduate of the UCLAx Creative Writing Program and an Assistant Editor of Poetry at Southland Alibi Magazine. He enjoys life in the South with his wife and dog, Stella. 

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