Page 28 - Contrast1991Spring
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Silver Pennies Bookstore
Rusty, The Candy Store
Dusty,
Musty, Crouched in thrice-hand-me-downs,
Piles of three quarters in my pocket,
I gaped into the sunlit case.
~, A million gilded wrappers glared back.
I smoothed my hair and entered, whispering,
Hans Brinker, "Seventy-five cents worth please."
King Arthur, Kid, this stuff costs eleven bucks a pound-
A Sword in the Breast Beat it.
I toss you a sexy kiss A pouty pink girl
Between the stacks spilled a sack of gumballs and started bawling.
Of proud old volumes I stooped to help.
Available for a pittance Get away!
Or a small fortune The sour princess snatched
Crumbled leather the pieces I held toward her and stomped them.
Grey-blue covers A tall man who smelled of rusty chocolate
Your eyes dance peddled me out.
And lips shush
The fact that we are I wanted to cry in Mama's arms
Aging lovers but she was already crying when I burst
Feebly re-kindling emotion into the kitchenette.
From a jumbled, war-torn
Marriage amid -Christine Keiner
These disorganized treasures
As we stumble onto gems
While searching for that
One impossible ftnd-
A book that re-wakes childhood,
An intimacy that rocks with safety
-Susan Tegler
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