a tidbit

Just when I was thinking I might be losing some of my English major-ness almost a year after graduation,

I drive past a poor, lonely book lying in the road,

wet and forgotten against the double yellow line

like a lump of roadkill.

I wanted to pull over and stop the traffic,

to scoop it up and smooth out its spine,

to bring it home and dry its sopping pages,

and say, "There, there, you're safe now."