To my self-help books
Admired, acquired, erected
proudly on the mounted pulpits
by dozens, dressed in crisp jackets
in lustrous succession they wait.
From the acute, unnatural colors
they wear in marketing-fashion
rise bold, italic, embossed promises
to eliminate the chaotic monotony of life.
Their slightly varied platforms,
built on styled rhetoric and
packaged in well preached “how-to”s,
combine to form some wisdom.
Yet a common connotation of change
emanating from their assembly
creates such a visual din,
collector keeps on collecting
afraid of ever approaching. They wait
each with their separate advice
singing the same silent chorus
behind their uncracked spines.
Published in Word Trips 2007
Catherine Favole Gruber 