Lug the bag, plop down in the seat,
spread out
on a library desk
as much as you can.
Wonder
what diseases come
in contact with
cheap textbooks. Wonder
if digital texts
make sense, make
reading cost less.
They certainly weigh less,
don't
flap shut on an important page
now lost.
Maybe that's why
students break the spines
of cheap textbooks,
highlight,
underline,
dog ear,
bite
to hold like a third hand
as the book bag is rifled
for other texts.
Oh, for the new,
the shiny,
and untouched book!
Oh, for the smell and the purity!
When done with them, they sell
cheap textbooks
for date money. That is,
if the book store
buys them back.