Use-By Date

the hardcover version

of the anthology

of world poetry is better

than the paperback edition

the book lasts

for decades unread

upon a shelf without

the compulsory curling

and flaking and yellowing

of paper ready always to

reveal itself upon opening

competes in a profound

silence with lesser bindings

stands against the inevitable dust

that accumulates when not

much else is happening

subsists and persists

in a stubborn coherence

despite the use-by date

of publication

in the first edition

there is only

a year of birth

below your name

we know better

once every few years

mostly in winter

i pull my copy down

from the top of the case

read one or two

poets of antiquity

in the opening chapters

pleased that their language

even in translation

is fermenting in the dark pages

how the message in the verse

fills the stale air of the world

that’s evolving with

the slightly unpleasant scent

of moldy relevance

until i raise my eyes

stare beyond the words

to what's not there

think something is missing

something's lost

when i turn to what

is left circulating of you