POETRY

By Lucia Cherciu

Temp­ta­tion: I find sandals for me
when looking for gifts.

Con­fu­sion: I buy two dresses for me
when shop­ping for canning jars.

Some claim gold has healing properties;
right, money helps.

I research claims about the ben­e­fits of silver.
Kissing of icons, silver chalice, silver spoons.

Temp­ta­tion: at the Cǎr­tureşti Book­store in Bucharest
they don’t arrange the books in alpha­bet­i­cal order

so I pick every book on the shelves and buy
all of them till the plane dips.

Temp­ta­tion: my sister has bought enough books
to build a mansion. Her daughter’s mansion is in those books:

she’s getting a six-year under­grad­u­ate degree in Architecture.
There should be a law about sharing your books

like com­mu­nal forest bathing.
Recy­cling arche­typ­al love stories.

Do you lend your books?
Giving a book as a gift

is like buying a string bikini for your friend:
when you know, you know

This story orig­i­nal­ly appeared in Stonecoast Review Issue 18.

Photo by Ray Seven.