Caitlin Vance is a poet and fiction writer from Washington state. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Tin House, The Southern Review, ZYZZYVA, New Ohio Review, Washington Square Review, The Literary Review, and other magazines. She received an MFA from Syracuse University, and is currently a PhD student at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette.
The Memory Librarians, Part 2
We should mention as time goes on
Some books will disappear forever
While others stay but hide under floorboards
Those that hide under floorboards are known to catch fire
Without warning
Probably when you have no water nearby
So be careful little cloud
Even those books that stay on the shelves will change
From happy to sad
From sad to empty
Empty to totally aflame