The Book Thief
a movie treat
courtesy of kind folks
now rooted elsewhere

The Book Thief
Markus Zusak’s
weighty tome
I discover to my delight
on a local library’s shelf

Can you imagine that
well folks even steal
chronic medication
medical equipment
rob on-duty paramedics
and strip gardens of plants

Can you imagine that
well folks even burnt
and banned books
in Nazi Germany
in Fascist Chile
in Apartheid South Africa
and still do in places

A librarian-local
muses over the title
(why not borrower
or lender something
affirmative after all
it is about a young girl’s
thirst for knowledge
against the odds)

The Book Thief
set in Nazi Germany
the other separated
in the name of

(and there are monuments
and bits of boulevard
to remind one)

Can you imagine that

A librarian-local gets me going. See “Plant thieves” (People’s Post Athlone, 24 March 2015). This after Len and Vera Smith got me going. If you get my drift. To the Labia Theatre.