Old Paperback Books

yellowed brittle pages
the smell of old and worn
stacked in no order
on some old bookcase

outdoors
in an old shanty
part of town
sits the old antique store
stuffy on the inside

but I went to that place
for the paperback books
with the varied titles
brittled pages
and worn covers

yeah that was me
getting lost in the titles
stories of people’s lives
captured by a write with a pen

only fifty cents
sometimes a quarter
an adventure to another world
far away from mine

I loved those books
and the place where they waited
for a guy like me
or maybe it be you
to plunk down our coin
and take that ride
take that ride home