The New Yorker
June 10 & 17, 2019
Price $8.99
“Bedtime Stories”
by Bruce Eric Kaplan
a middle aged couple
is in bed
in a high-ceilinged
city room
in this black and white
cover drawing
each has
an artless frame
hanging above them
side-by-side
over the bed
the couple is sitting propped against the headboard
staring at their own separate bedside table stacked with books
in a pile
at least as tall
as they are
fighting lamps
for table space
the window is black
except for the sill
flowered curtains draped back
dark of night outside
both seem startled by these stacks-
their hands over their mouths-
as if the books
suddenly appeared from nowhere
not a single title is legible spines are facing different ways
one false move
and a game of book Jenga could go painfully wrong
I wonder about this cover
have these two ever even met?
is this a high-rise hotel
or an apartment?
are the books even real
or are they the true but yet unwritten stories of their lives that they wish could be changed?
or are they book
hoarders who suddenly realize
they have accumulated
far too much
and feel the anchors of ownership
sucking them down
into the thick
black abyss?
or has Santa come and left the gifts of wings to new horizons for two retirees who were wondering what to do next?
covers like this one perplex
and haunt me
Common Threads 