tell you from
the days you
are young.
always on
children's tv
sesame street
arthur
reading rainbow
"go to the
library"
"your local library"
had they actually
been to my
library, they might
have been more
cautious
it was
not such a place of
much enlightenment
filled with plenty
of regular people
but lacking
the ambiance, to match
the ideals.
not a true place
of higher learning
the entire compound
swarming
with bums
and piles of clothes
and trash
all around
the building,
bathed entirely
in
smoke, piss and
beer.
those people,
wrinkled tomes
of sadness; the most
depressing
biographies
nobody'll
ever read
I guess that building &
those occupants:
tired and missing teeth,
never really inspired me
much. The whole
transaction of
knowledge was
never a pleasant
one.
but now, finally,
a decade and a half
later
it makes sense.
a new, different library.
only a ten minute
walk from my room,
it's clean, modern, and
doesn't reek of piss
and death.
the only trace of
depravity is an
old man trembling
with the excitement
of looking at porn
who sits in the arts
basement.
The library probably
hired him for flavor.
and
while the other students
are busy studying
at desks and tables,
i sneak in (knowledge
thief that I am) and
pull off staggering
heists--
grabbing
stacks of
literature,
poetry
art.
and
only
now
can i understand
why those bums
clung
to the library--
free books for
the rich.
free knowledge for
the bums.
a microcosm
free from
distinctions.
a distraction,
a feast for all
to enjoy.
(tonight we read like kings)
and
to
think
the whole
time
a few stuffed
animals
had it all
figured out!
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