"The Complete Nurse's Guide to Diabetes Care"

“The Complete Nurse’s Guide to Diabetes Care”

It sits atop the rough wooden bench,

Sequestered from the novels, the memoirs, and the nonfictions.

The serrated pine digs into its back,

Cruel white crease lines forming

Along its laminated binding

As a half - empty Caffeine-Free Coca Cola can

Sits triumphantly atop the once-reflective title -

A desperate attempt to compensate for the flatness of life,

a yearning for the carbonated excitement of yesterday.

 

The abuse has become a mutual, nightly affair;

The book’s complexity, once its aspiration and source of pride

Now only infuriate its handler, berating her mind as she berates its pages.

Small, now-dry wrinkles of over-zealous highlightings methodically parch each page

The nicks and slashes of angry dog-ears scar their corners.

 

But it is no matter - it is not designed to be pampered.

The blissful caress of a careful reader’s hand not intended for such a work.

No, this is a lowly school text.

No bookend will ever press up against its mangled shell,

No comforting contact will ever grace its forlorn exterior.

Alas, it seems the brittle pages are destined to be shamed under the guise of study

Until the last layer of knowledge has been brutally exfoliated,

And the husk discarded.

 

The Cola can is lifted now,

Revealing a crescent of dried soda,

A mocking glimpse of beauty

Which, for a moment, glints in the late afternoon light

Before being halfheartedly wiped away.

Its restraint lifted, the cover page curls up against its owner

A final, silent snarl of defiance amidst the musty scent of defeat.