Guy Talk

in the men’s group

the other night

after the drumming

eddy broke down said

he was living on the edge

one amazon delivery

away from a meltdown

told us how the other day

he ended up using

a razor to scrape

the price sticker

off his wife’s new paperback

rubbed what remained

of the stubborn sticker

with adhesive remover

leaving a coarse white

smudge on the beautiful

orange and browns of the cover

then in a burst of ingenuity

colored in the missing chunk

with children’s markers

as if she might not notice

when someone asked

why he did what he did

he blamed his wife

complaining it was

an impulse click

for an uninteresting book

she would never

end up reading

pressed he confessed

to having no idea

how hard it is

to remove a label

seemed sad

befuddled confused

sitting there thinking

about what he’d just said

told us

in the end

ashamed

he hid the mess

on a shelf

in the family room

in a dusty row

with some other

unread books

histories

biographies

romance novels

guides to

self-help