7:23 a.m.
Since September, every 7:23 a.m. has been the same. First, the dull sound of an engine, then the headlights piercing the dark. The bus slows, then stops. The doors open in front of me
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Clint Margrave is the author of the novel "Lying Bastard" (Run Amok Books, 2020), and the poetry collections, "Salute the Wreckage," "The Early Death of Men," and "Visitor" (Forthcoming) all from NYQ Books. His work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Rattle, The Moth, New York Quarterly, Cimarron Review, Ambit (UK), Verse Daily, and The Writer’s Almanac, among others. He lives in Los Angeles, CA., U.S.A. "Tropic of Cancer" is in Short Circuit #06, Short Édition's quarterly review.
One day, long after they were gone,
cleaning out a cabinet in my grandparents' house,
buried behind an earmarked bible
and a Billy Graham inspirational paperback,
I found a copy of Henry Miller's
Tropic of Cancer.
A beautifully preserved 1960s edition,
never meant to be found,
the author's name unmistakably in black
over a blue and white background,
the spine only slightly bent,
the pages only slightly jaundiced
from decades of dust and air.
A misguided gift for a couple
who didn't really read?
A book chosen by its ambiguous title?
A controversial collector's item
bought for novelty's sake?
Or something no one was supposed
to know about?
Whatever it was, a few months after,
when their house finally sold,
that earmarked bible
and Billy Graham inspirational paperback
would go to the Goodwill
while that Miller book
still sits on my shelf now.