305. 3. if you bring muffins, scones, steve (or)

3. if you bring muffins, scones, steve (or),
be sure there’s enough for the pirates beneath
who haven’t beed fed for fullness but red —
and books of the book club immaculate kept (are)

six years she plodded dark halls (in) talking
in circles the character of character — authors —
and when she’d completed authors most meaty,
every last one (was) the big book (in) evil

the choice that appeared as good but unclear,
unpopular, ugly, hard on the ears (was)
for who possess a modicum less
of evil what rules out most authors for death?

the fact is that if you’ve got murders to tip,
you’ve got to have characters who shouldn’t be it —
since authors are pegged right out of the bed,
they’re only good mysteries (in) occasionally (as) herrings

success in revealing the underside seedy
of book writing doomed all the efforts to clean it —
bad authors thought by bad being caught (in)
the quickest (a surefire) an access to plot

the world turned up down, bad authors town (in)
prostitutes strangling, nightshirts (in) drowning —
a city awash in second grade hocks
hacking at circus freaks for “true to life” plots

millicent met with the book club execs
(a committee of book people — ONLY THE BEST)
to see what can done (be) make authors less scummy,
and those who who would like to be writers less dumb

an author is boring, not made for conforming
to book club beliefs that mysteries form the
usual trope of a genius who’s broken,
and just wants to work out his demons with rope

as hard as it seems, impossible, believe (it),
murderers sometimes are average people,
and though they don’t make the best books, they pay
their rent always early, for murder aren’t late
(cont.)