Thoughts on Abandoned Books, by M. J. Arcangelini

Abandoned Books, by Jeff Long (USA) 2019

Thoughts on Abandoned Books

​There is a warm pool of
books within which to
wade one’s mind up to
the knees or as deep
as one might please.

They appear to have been
tossed together like tinder 
at the feet of Joan of Arc,
the feet of witches and heretics
burned throughout the ages.

They present a hazardous situation,
attempting to climb this
literary scree could send one
sliding backward down the
mountainside of ideology.

Or they could be leaves, these books,
raked into a pile on a chilly autumn day, 
children jumping into them
before they are set aflame,
wafting as smoke into the sky.

My inner librarian wants to
gather them like stray livestock,
corral them alphabetically,
each within an appropriate category
then walk away, satisfied.

The abandoned books have bled
their words into the air, content
evaporated into atmosphere,
desiccated blank page carcasses left
behind for a frustrated bibliophage.

Eventually the lost words will
rain down on us in a new order
in some uncertain future
where words might yet be allowed 
to carry untrammeled truth.

M.J. Arcangelini

M.J. Arcangelini was born 1952 in western Pennsylvania.  He has resided in northern California since 1979. He began writing poetry at age 11, stories in his teens and memoirs in his late 40s. His work has been published in a lot of little magazines, small newspapers and anthologies.  He is the author of several poetry collections. Arcangelini maintains an occasional blog of poetry and prose at https://joearky.wordpress.com/

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