Poems by Eric Scott Sutherland
Images by Brian Connors Manke
These poems and images appeared with Tony Stilt’s essay, “The Lexington Central Public Library is a home.” All poems will appear in Eric’s forthcoming Accents publication, pendulum.
not in the job description
Librarians are almost always very helpful
and often almost absurdly knowledgeable.
Their skills are probably very underestimated
and largely underemployed.
-Charles Medawar
You went to school
to study library science,
to become an ambassador
for letters and literacy.
You love books
and want to help
people read.
You never expected
you’d be directing
people to the bathroom
and telling them
not to fall asleep.
have and have-not
In the dim rotunda
two people sit,
inanimate as mannequins.
One is dressed in a slate
three piece uniform.
The other wears a rainbow
of second-hand mismatches.
They watch a pendulum
swing beneath the eye of the sky,
marking the miserable
seconds of the day,
the tick tocks of rat claws
as they race.
In one’s wide dark
pupils, the dream is unattainable.
And in the others the myth is
exposed, hope already lost.
fishing for change
lost skipper, Phoenix Park, far from sea
hair grayish green like rocky coast
moss tangled under an old sock hat
a body of wire wrapped in a ragged coat
shredded to stuffing and thread
an unlit cigarette hangs between thin lips
a ship tossed in the storm of his beard
every morning voyage passes the pay phone
he casts his finger into the coin return slot
but I have never seen him get lucky
never seen him catch a dime
Milkshake Ricky
loves oatmeal cookies
and peanut butter shakes,
dresses in cutoff sweats
over full length
sweats, looks like he flew
out of the cuckoo’s nest,
lost four pair of glasses
and two umbrellas
last week.
Milkshake Ricky is losing
more than his mind. The way
he fumbles through
layers of worn cotton
searching for his billfold
he may have also
lost what little
money there is left
from his monthly check.
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