('Taken by surprise', Edvard Munch, 1907)

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Gift Wrapped

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after deciding on a theme for my next novel
I assemble the main characters

a poet torn between love
and truth

the lover delivering a package
carefully wrapped in silk paper

placing it into his hands
he shakes the content

feels the weight of the gift
holds it close to the light

through the sheer wrapping paper
he notices her face adorn the cover

tearing at the delicate mesh
a handwritten note falls out

lines of poetic expressions
revealing all that’s in-between

with bitter resentment he rejects the gift
insists she take it back

as the cashier at the used book counter
holds it to the light

checks its content refuses the return
but offers an exchange

any book in the lower basement
on the highest shelf

in the hard-to-sell section
between self help and fiction

detailing complexity of our social behavior
what we go through to fulfill our needs

bartering one’s life for single moments
strung together with hand written notes

no charge to gift wrap
once the right paper is decided upon

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