[if you think] books are sexy

This comp has the following options:

1. Write a poem or short story;
2. Choose a genre, either Erotica or Love;
3. The poem or short story must take place in a library or a book shop;
4. You must choose a Stephen Hawking's book title and use it within your poem or short story... titling your entry with a Hawking's book title isn't an option, be creative in the way you weave the lines into your poetry or prose.
Link to Hawking's books: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Books_by_Stephen_Hawking

The only rules are that you follow the four options above, and that you're limited to two (2) entries, however, you can only submit one (1) poem and one (1) short story.

The Moth Shop


Dust mites lay eggs in
the stacks;
yellowed, cracking parchments,
leather-bound, sometimes
skin….

Dated, faded, all smelling
of cigarettes and
corned beef, fragile
to the touch; disintegrating
like dandelions gone
to seed.

Two moths spiral in
the air, white and pure, landing
on Hawking’s
“George and The Big Bang”.

One mounts the other, wings
quivering; he must be George and
she, his delight as
they mate on the book, creating,
purposing new life.

Ah, love—simpler in lower
species.  

George envelops her, in
his own big bang, then they part for
different worlds—

“Thank you, it’s been
a pleasure…”  and I, their
voyeur, turn away toward
the dim-lit volumes, searching
for what I cannot find.

poem / love / bookshop


'Round the Corner📚

We make a date; let's meet at the book nook,
That sells every subject between covers,
Holding the universe in a nutshell.

So when he shows up exactly on time
Impeccably dressed in his bookish style,
I practic'lly swoon, that look from his specs!

We pass by bags of ground beans & green tea,
Of rotating racks with canvas book bags,
And rows of trendy kiln-glazed mugs on hooks.

We both look askance at hands on the clock.
As if from one mind we bolt for the stairs;
The lift would be faster, but time is scarce.

We run for the stacks and down the first row,
Biology!  That's more than we want to know.
Surgery, Dentistry, Philosophy.

Sigmund, where are you when we need you most?
We go down - on all fours - and start crawling.
Geology.  Ha!  They'll NEVER find us!

We lie in a pile of first editions.
I writhe and I gasp; he's found my hot spot:
I love the smell of hard-bound most of all!

This will always be our fa-vo-rite place.
Love in a local shop 'round the corner,
There's nothing better for bookworms like us.



Title used: "The Universe in a Nutshell" by Stephen Hawking

💑Liaision©👫
Genetically engineered to wear your energy. The most fragile part of me nurses our strongest connection.
You are love in every aspect of the word.
You are the philosophy of my completion.
I live for you.
Sex and survival being the two fundamentals of human existence, without your aid I could not accomplish either of which I have been conditioned for.
Designed to be companion,
solely.
To know someone out there is missing apart of themselves upon my absence.
Waiting for purpose that can only be sought inside of my being.
My whole life I've been practicing for this.
Epiphany came so distinctive like goal and I knew you were to comply in the success of my forthcoming.
Your presence confirming self-medication.
I relapsed so helplessly.
Your antedote the only thing that can pacify.