Wrong Characters
By Michael Tyrell

I’m looking for one character who got away
she says
because even the books aren’t behaving themselves these days
the pages I swear
they’re blank, every page, or I keep losing my place,
why do we say frog in the throat
do we hope it will turn into a prince

female male I ask hero foil archenemy
dynamic or static character
got away how took the money ran away with Quilty
went to Thornfield to become a governess
burned Thornfield down (trying to make her laugh)
She shrugs (she never read the one
about the first wife)
I don’t know there’s one I’m
supposed to remember though
something about redemption

Is it the fireman you’re looking for I ask
the one who knew the temperature at which books burn
the thought criminals of the year we passed two decades ago
I think I’ve got it she says hides her eyes to think
moves hand shakes her head no
wrong characters

redemption what did they do for it
What about Boo Radley
he sat in his bungalow in Maycomb
he made soap dolls for Scout
she met him once she never saw him again
No he’s not the one I’m looking for
What about Faye Greener I say she sold her body
so Vaudeville Harry could have a funeral
She’s a whore he’s dead
she says what would I want with them
I, she, can’t keep up,
I think there’s a locust, I think today’s the day

Maybe more than the characters
she says looking to the window
I need that city last lovely city
in the book I was reading before all this happened
where were they at the end
were they in it
that man and woman in the gazebo
I should ask them
how they got out of the pages
did they burn themselves out

You’re thinking of the books of the future
all the books in flames set by the firemen
but some people resist some read
the books enough to become the books
each one becomes a classic
we could still do this you and me

That shouldn’t be tough
she laughs
with all the blank pages around here
then she says without irony
I’m tired of fiction what’s more
I’m cold (she told me once
never turn me into a poem)

wouldn’t a fire do us more good?