for Steve

At Gettysburg the fields were still
fresh with death. My
head hurt.
We wandered into a bookstore in
the preserved village.
It was quaint.
And there on a remainder table I
found a biography
of Gandhi for 1.98.
What saves us is always unexpected.
What we need
is so seldom what we thought we needed.

Corey Mesler is the owner of Burke’s Book Store, in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the country’s oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He has published poetry and fiction in numerous journals including Pindeldyboz, Orchid, Black Dirt, Thema, Mars Hill Review, Poet Lore and others. He is also a book reviewer for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. A short story of his has been chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, edited by Shannon Ravenel, published by Algonquin Books. His first novel, Talk: A Novel in Dialogue appeared in 2002 from Livingston Press. He also has a chapbook of poems entitled Chin-Chin in Eden, due out in 2003 from Still Waters Press. Most importantly, he is Toby and Chloe’s dad and Cheryl’s husband.