"Waiting To Be Read"

I bet you never imagined
When you penned your poetry book
That it would take a quarter of a century
Before another soul took a look.
Making my slow journey
I found you on your row but
Having scanned the content
Never gave you a go.
The blurb says you work
At Mountjoy jail
Sure you get job satisfaction
Which is more than I can
Say of your book
Which I took
Off the shelf for a fraction.
The blurb talks about love and letdown
From when you were seventeen
Feeling oh so lonely when she stood you up.
Put yourself in that book's shoes
And imagine how it's been.
Oh how I teased you
My fingers caressing your spine
After all those years of darkness
You thought those poems were mine.
Just like the girl at that Wimpy
The one who failed to show
I got you excited and teased
With nowhere left for you to go.
Perhaps I felt a tad guilty
I had to give you an airing
Dumping you on the returns trolley
Deep down I don't want you unread
As an old Irish folly
So I'll hope someone picks you up
From there instead.

Dulwich Poet 17th November 2013

( I was searching the shelves at the Poetry Library for my next four books to take home, and I picked one up to look at that had last been issued and stamped with a return date of 17th December 1989! It was called 'The Sound of Umbrellas at Work' by Tom Lonorgan. This attempt at a poem is about comparing the blurb that describes it, love and let downs, to the book being stuck on the shelf, and how I let the book down, by briefly having a look at it, but not taking it home)