Please, judge a book by its cover.
An artist or designer
was paid to refine some of the messages inside
and distill them to the images
that beckon from the shelf.
It is not their intent to smother,
rather, they wish you’ll want to discover
the meaning behind the gleaning
that resulted in that outfit.
A good jacket,
light for crisp weather,
or heavy with the dripping of
a thousand fashionable colors.
Succinct or lavish as a succubus,
the choices were not up to us,
but to a professional.
Confession:
I fall in lust
with a well-designed cover
every time I walk through a bookstore.
Revoke my Literature degree, and decree
that my support of local businesses
is sorely lacking.
No one will argue,
and now we endeavor
to hunt in the pulpiest weather.
Noir clouds will part and a ray of light
will break through paper spines
to relieve my decrepit wallet
of its materialistic tendencies.
Burn all the pockets;
if only all bank accounts emptied
to fill bookshelves
with curiosity and love.