lost library books.

because some of us are lost library books

desperately yearning to be found

that we'd be stripped of our plastic coverings and expiration date stickers

our reviews were much too harsh

and sometimes our bindings were the only thing keeping us intact

we were borrowed and used, but mostly used

no one wanted to read our seventeenth chapter out loud,

but neither did we

 we were checked out by reader's who didn't notice our figurative language

who found our metaphors to be merely minuscule,

when so anxiously our pages longed to be understood

and some of us are just lost library books

and maybe we'll be found on an antique store shelf in fifty years

and maybe then,
maybe then they will understand