If you could choose a bag of books,
what kinds of books would these be?
Would they match your interests to a tee
or include new things you’d like to see?

Our library is having a sale
and people who love to read
will shop this sale indeed.
At one bag for three dollars or two bags for five,
a bargain like this is hard to contrive.

These books in my bag
are most definitely me,
with a variety of subjects totaling three.

There are gardens that marvel,
writing for scribing,
and profiles of women who risk.

My heart was a flutter
barely a word could I mutter
as I sat the bag on the floor
its contents to further explore.

Relentlessly, I studied these books
in their crannies, their crooks, and their nooks
when I realized the stories they’d wield
the stories their two covers concealed
I would finally concede
were the stories of people who read.

One book has been chewed
its corner completely beshrewed
by a dog, a baby, or mouse –
what on earth do we make of that house!

Another is most lovingly read,
its pages well worn and the binding wide spread.
Paragraphs highlighted in yellow and pink,
important reminders written in ink
– until page ninety-two!
With the binding now held tightly with glue
no more pages are read
its story left regrettably unsaid.

From the next book something fell,
a story only one person could tell.
It was tender and charming,
completely heartwarming.

“Now isn’t that just like you –
doing something nice that way?
It really meant an awful lot –
thanks more than words can say!”

As I closed this forgotten notecard
something caught me off guard.
A message from its sender,
a thank-you so warm and tender.

“Lester would have loved the service.
Your singing meant so much to our family.
Thank you for all you have done.”

These books in my bag,
the stories they have told
and the treasures they hold –
These books are about people who love to read.

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The list of books in my bag from the library sale:

• The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild, by Michael Leapman
• Odd Lots, by Thomas C. Cooper
• The Well-Designed Mixed Garden, by Tracy DiSabato-Aust
• Creative Garden Design, Reader’s Digest
• The Time Life Complete Gardener, Combining Plants
• The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing, Vol. II
• The Little, Brown Handbook, by H. Ramsey Fowler
• Western Carolina University Rules for Writers, by Diana Hacker
• Writers & Company, by Eleanor Wachtel
• Tiger Woods How I Play Golf, with the Editors of Golf Digest
• Profiles of Women in Extreme Sports: Women Who Risk,
  by Marilyn Olsen