Signed Book
My professor rattles on
but I’m not listening.
Instead, I’m staring at
the inside of the novel
I’ve only read half of.
There were just too many things
in the way last week
papers to grade
prayers to say
my daughter’s dance class on Saturday
the dishes, the wash
and an actual conversation
or two
with my wife.
My professor drones on
my ears hot and buzzing
as I stare at the inside cover
of my half-finished novel.
There’s blue squiggles
in wiggly paths
someone’s Bic pen
a frantic paintbrush
leaving their mark.
My professor says
something about Diasporic
Romance
but I’m stuck on those
Bic
blue
squiggles.
It looks like an author’s
frenzied signature, as if
I’d stood in line for hours
at a big book signing
in Barnes & Noble
or Borders.
Is this book more valuable
because of this spasm
of blue ink?
Does it
make my Amazon.com purchase
of $1.52, plus shipping
a gold mine?
The book is more valuable
because of those blue whorls
but only because they came from
my daughter
while I studied
Diasporic Romance
and she colored.
Copyright © Kevin Lucia | Year Posted 2008
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