A Terribly Inexpensive Friend
By Aisha Sasha John
If you buy a second-hand book, it has a price and some degree of wear. This book was 48 cents.
Many books, second-hand books, are crusty. That’s how come some people won’t buy them. People eat pizza and drink coffee while they’re reading books most of the time. People are into that. This book has cooked tomato stains, orange, all over a page. It’s not that gross. It’s sort of gross. Notice the small chunk of something beneath the word “would.” Incidentally, when I pick my nose at home, I just flick the snot right into the air.
Okay, now—this is frigging weird. So for some scratch-and-sniff reason, the previous owner of this book thought it necessary or useful or holy or wha’ever—to blank out the latter half of this sentence. Now, me—I don’t like puzzles. Anyway, I present this uncooked-chicken mystery to you here:
On the inside back flap of this book you'll find this photo. Look at this photo.
Thank you. Good-bye.
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The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book: Toronto.
The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book.
Aisha Sasha John is a dance improviser and poet. She was born in Montreal, but spent most of her childhood in Vancouver, and currently lives in Toronto. John has a BA in African Studies and Semiotics from the University of Toronto and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Her first book, The Shining Material, was published by BookThug in 2011. Her new collection is THOU (BookThug 2014). Follow John at http://www.aishasashajohn.tumblr.com.
