How to Spend a Weekend?

Norton Anthologies, volumes A and B,
Accompanied me beside a desk,
as three of us looked outside at a group talking over a cigarette.
We disregarded the sight, and returned to the matters at hand:
Thoughts and scribbles by perished pens,
as me and the Nortons dug inside the ideas of dead men.

In due time, the group outside took their leave.
Courteous enough to leave a trace of smoke,
to bid farewell to me and the Norton brothers.
I took time to sharpen my blade, the pencil,
for my battle with time had destroyed the edge.

An essay, a story, and then an autobiography
in a space of turning a page all passed away, and I tried to look outside to find a relic,
the remains of some cigarette end.
Thinking which of the two groups present might sooner forget,
How they spent their equally dismal weekend?

By JPV

Copyright October 2005