Another Slice by Roy Kelly (published in 'The Spectator', 30 January 2016)

Another Slice by Roy Kelly

All the books stored above our heads,
all the books there aren’t enough hours
to read again, and still we hesitate
to banish them complete.

The second-hand life, charity shops,
jumble sales, car boot fields:
the slow long-term dance,
temporary ownership, possession and loss.

Charity shops can take anything unwanted,
books and LPs, the unfashionable fashions,
but all those hours that used to be you,

what ever happened to them? Sometimes,
as with burnt toast, things can’t be salvaged
or scraped right. You have to discard. Start again.

published in ‘The Spectator’ 30 January, 2016