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Bibliophilia

Ed Ahern

It was, in my time, a pleasant preoccupation

to fill shelves and weight tables with books,

all of which by displayed implication I’ve read,

some fewer of which I actually have, even fewer

of which I remember beyond vague essence.

But the many titled days have gone away.

Libraries often decline donations of the well-used,

their book fairs jettison to prisons all the books

that languish unsold, even when well bound volumes

of poetry are priced cheaper than bath tissue.

My children’s children hoard nothing printed on paper,

and suffer my cascades of titles as an aberration

that kills trees and assuages a literate ego.

They do read, but transiently, recall always available,

uncaring of the bound bonding, book to man.

AUTHOR BIO

Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He’s had about 500 stories and poems published so far, and ten books. Ed works the other side of writing at Bewildering Stories where he manages a posse of seven review editors, and as lead editor at Scribes Micro.

JUDGE'S REMARKS

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​Poetry Judge

Allison Field Bell

Allison Field Bell is a multi-genre writer originally from northern California, but currently living in Utah.

MORE ABOUT ALLISON

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