We shredded books on the library floor.
I felt like committing an awful sin.
I wanted something I couldn’t ask for
and tore the humanities limb from limb.
We tore out the pages, we broke the spine,
I thought about something not being said,
reading your typeface with you reading mine,
discarding books that would never be read.
Shredding the differences, pulping the sames,
books about lawyers, books about lovers,
taking out titles, annihilating names,
two people judging without any covers.
Left with each other, still trying to stall,
we looked for words. We recycled them all.
Neil Kennedy is a librarian. He is currently earning his MSLS to go with his BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing.
Carley Anderson is an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, majoring in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing and a minor in Photography. She is inspired by literature, family, and childhood memories. Her photography was featured at 2nd Friday Art Night in Downtown Little Rock. Her artwork is forthcoming in Arkana.