The wastebasket is the writer’s best friend. - Isaac Singer
Remaindered, v: (to dispose of a book left unsold at a reduced price)
Once had a debut named Cannon
spectacularly reviewed
bound in calfskin and vellum.
But a blogger was unkind
And a brushfire engulfed him.
Now he’s remaindered
a sale table has-been.
Seagulls caw and scavenge
outside his writer’s retreat
on a windswept dune
to which he absconded.
With spring’s coy blush
tourists trek over his dune
with painted toes and smart phones
on a hunt for the juice.
But his jump shot was perfected
with crumpled up vellum
and no trace remains of
Cannon’s war-weary fellow.
Written for Shay's Word Garden - "The Legacy of Ladysmith" Her word list challenge this week for an original poem was taken from the forgotten novel, The Legacy of Ladysmith by John Kenny Crane.
I had never heard of this novel (the Boer Wars?) but it sounds intriguing and I can think of many more worthy novels to be relegated to the sale table.