End Papers

End Papers is a collection of poems about - yup, the end. But don’t let the shape put you off. Believe it or not, these poems are not depressing. A couple of them are even funny. Here’s the title poem:

End Papers

What do I read in those empty pages
that follow The End? A reminder
that for every climax there’s an anti?
That even happily has a codicil,
namely, ever after?

And what about the ones up front
before the title page and Chapter One?
Are they the hesitation
before the word is chosen,
when everything is possible?
Or nothing?

Before I knew my letters,
I scribbled like a little god
in fronts and backs of books–
suns like spiders,
houses with faces,
triangle people
with long, rooting fingers.
I seem to have forgotten
the story I was telling.

By K.D. Miller