After dinners, the Duke exhausted himself with a thorough perusal, on foot, of the always expansive estates of his friends. The sweat and exhaustion of the searches only heightened the disappointment in finding a home lacking. To declare that a person of nobility had no library in a space this size was not an aspersion one could make by mistake. In such instances, it would not matter whether the Duke’s absence was frowned upon by his host. If there were no library, excuses of illness were made to a servant. The Duke would not return to bourbon and banter with such rubbish people again. To live without a library at all was a clear sign of ill breeding the Duke could neither forget not forgive.

Kristin Garth is a Pushcart, Best of the Net & Rhysling nominated sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked journals like Glass, Yes, Five:2:One, Luna Luna and more. She is the author of seventeen books of poetry including Pink Plastic House  (Maverick Duck Press), Crow Carriage (The Hedgehog Poetry Press), Flutter: Southern Gothic Fever Dream (TwistiT Press), The Meadow (APEP Publications) and Golden Ticket forthcoming from Roaring Junior Press.  She is the founder of Pink Plastic House a tiny journal and co-founder of Performance Anxiety, an online poetry reading series. Follow her on Twitter:  (@lolaandjolie) and her website kristingarth.com