from the anthology Books Truth Serum
Vol. 7, published November 2023
ISBN (paperback) 978-1-923000-01-8
ISBN (ePub) 978-1-923000-07-0
ISBN (Kindle) 978-1-923000-14-8
to purchase, click here for paperback
click here for Amazon Kindle / ePub*
* ePubs can be read on all Apple devices, and all eReaders except Kindle
a massive sandwich from the / Italian deli which I brought up to my Ivy League dorm room / for my privileged graduate program on book publishing from Two Books by Ben Groner III
lie down with a sigh / for a good read: big books in their scuffed / plastic sleeves from the lending library from Legacy by Jacqueline Kudler
It hadn’t seemed particularly weighty when she’d heaved it into the taxi, then out onto the pavement by her central London flat … from Long Haul by Ken Cohen
Between the rhymes of Dr. Seuss / and the desires of Anne Frank / we skipped prairies with Wilder from Libraries by Deborah Meltvedt
He remembered how happy he had been to receive them, how he had inhaled the pages—for text, naturally, but, if he were being honest, for the subtext as well, hoping she had chosen the books to hint at other meanings. from Steganography by DS Levy
Of course, such democratic usage resulted in a fading presence from the literary scene. One by one, torn and frayed copies disappeared from the common stock. from Vintage Paperbacks by John E. Caulton
Brand new books carry a crisp / scent, a light, fruity blush from Bluestocking by Joanie DiMartino
“Right. Short Stories. And if I stood here all day, I’m sure you’d name them all.” from Simon Hope by James Bates
“It’s what it says in the guidebook,” Sam says. / “Bullshit. That doesn’t count as a full moon,” Ben says … from Ice Machine by Flemming George
A peek into another life / I could safely back away from it if too scary from The importance of romance stories by Melissa E. Wong
Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney / sit together discussing poems. from The World of Imagination by Amalia Fish
We kids were brought in to help because the press was running round the clock … from Sotry of Truth by rani Jayakumar
I see a solemn stranger resembling / Dorian’s dark, deceiving portrait from Dorian Gray Revisited by Jane H. Fitzgerald
Living in the world of literature, loving a good review and decrying a bad one. from Illusions by Michael Webb
I went round and a butler directed me into the back garden, to the ‘reading room’ as he called it. A little house made from books, would you believe. from All those words by GP Hyde
On Janine’s otherwise bare counters, twenty gold-embossed leather-covered journals stand to attention, in a perfect line. from Twenty Golden Notebooks by Alan Kennedy
The favourite of both of us / was the 50th anniversary edition of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from The Divorce Settlement by Rob McKinnon
It doesn’t seem the kind of work to appeal / to one with so careful a hand—but still— from Used Paperback by Kathryn Paulsen
Knowing you can still go back to that spot where that book is on the shelf and still see the book you put off buying … from The Book You Put Off Buying by Michael Berton
And what if what I hoped I might conceal / becomes uncovered by light from above from Truth Be Told by Ken Gosse
from the film first, then / Boris Pasternak’s novel— / I learned permission / to commit adultery from Subversive by Karla Linn Merrifield
And what about Mrs. Spencer’s wallet? She probably had a credit card, a driver’s license, and a library card, of course. from Old Lady Things by Cynthia Leslie-Bole
Because St. Patrick’s Day / Is my day to celebrate it / By writing in the emerald isle green. from A Year of Notebooks by Linda Barrett
The next morning, Sam felt pity for his story. He tackled it again. But there was no spark, no inspiration: the words would not ignite. from Everything by Matthew Harrison
At least there was a public library at the bottom of the hill. from The Trespasser by Kate Lunn-Pigula
looking down / from the shelves / hundreds and hundreds of sparkling colours. from Books on Shelves by Declan Geraghty
A friend of mine lent me a book of hers / This has only happened to me twice in my life from Precious by Lily Thomson
I toss the book onto the pile on the sofa / wondering why I am so hungry from Books Transport by Michael Shoemaker
As a little girl, I would lay on my back and swoon up those walls, gazing at names I considered my friends simply because they were his. from Run Out of Wall by Angela Townsend
I’ve never been a computer buff, as my fingers are like sausages, so I decided to write my memoirs longhand. from Ray’s Memoirs by Ronald T. Hardwick
Truth Serum Press 