I will resume the eight-word poems tomorrow. Meanwhile…

I caught myself
doing it again

I know what I said
but once again
I was looking for that book—
you know
the one that would
save my life

I picked up a copy
of Nikki Giovanni’s Chasing Utopia
from the bargain table

As I closed the book
(after glancing through a few of its pages)
to put it back down
a phrase—more precisely, a poem title—
caught my eye:

NOTE TO THE SOUTH: YOU LOST

It took me a second
to catch up
barely a half-second
after releasing the book
from my grip
I picked it back up
to look for that page

The poem turned out to be not at all what I had expected, but the page facing the second half had a golden shovel poem—which caught my eye, as I had just written one yesterday

As I glanced through
the rest of the pages
enough words and phrases
spoke to me
that I knew
I would not be leaving
without buying this book—
even if it weren’t going to save my life

(6 August 2017)