Romance Novel Left On A Bus Poem by Raj Dronamraju

A couple kissing in a forest
He with blond hair, she with a green dress
Drawn with clumsy mass produced bush strokes
Told of hot passion as a commodity
A florid lust in pulp language
If I could get past the cover, I could read inside

An elderly couple seated in front of me
They have long since passed love
They have long since passed hate
They have retired to indifference
I only know they are together because she paid the fare for both of them

They were not the one who left behind that book
Discarded disposable mass reproduced fantasy
I've long theorized how people connect with one another is the same as how animals find and recognize mates
This is just the window dressing hungry masses yearn for

She was rumpled, overweight, in an ill fitting pullover
She usually felt hopeless and lost
But then she saw herself in a forest
She saw herself in a desert kissing a sheik with a pencil moustache