Eden Before Adam
There were the animals to make: Giraffes,
elephants, camels, kangaroos (for laughs),
a host of birds, a weltering of snakes,
a clutch of creepy-crawly things (it takes
all kinds to make a world) and then the whales,
the starfish, kraken, jellyfish and snails.
God loved them all, but most the ones with fur,
pleasant to touch, the white of miniver
and ermine, black of panther—He would not
miss the lost angels while he had this lot.
He looked about and saw that all was good:
Angels might fall but rabbits never would.
To crown it all, there was a Persian cat.
Perfection! Had he only stopped at that.
The Space Dilemma
A universally acknowledged truth
is that one cannot have too many books.
But one can have too little space. A booth
or two would help. I’ve filled up all the nooks,
the space beneath the stairs, stacks by the doors,
the staggered piles on tables by the bed,
corners of rooms, boxes on closet floors…
I separate the read from the unread,
I look for ways to prune them, give away
the surplus, start to read them all again,
can’t part with my old favorites, what the hey,
they’re so much better company than men…
Storage be damned. As long as there’s a track
just wide enough for me and my cat’s tail,
I can edge my way from stack to stack.
Want to browse with me at the library sale?