Dog-eared

My heart is dog-eared,

a book well read, but

always eager to write

a new chapter.

I remember when

it was brand new,

clean pages, fresh print.

It had been on the shelf

for an eternity of fifteen years,

(Youth can’t tell time)

when love pulled it from the library.

He was just a few pages in,

bookmarking all my tender passages,

when he didn’t like my interpretation.

First love, first rejection,

I didn’t approve his edit.

He wanted a Reader’s Digest

rewrite of my NO.

I preferred to keep all my pages

until someone would appreciate the read.

 ©Susie Clevenger 2017

#NaPoWriMo2017

Real Toads ~ Carol Ann Duffy