Behind the Binding

Sorry about the shape this volume's in
although it's held up pretty well
for all the times the pages turned
But there doesn't seem to be a way
to fit everything you see in me
into a book that better fits your hand
A slicker cover, more pleasing to the eye

So take it or don't, I can't do otherwise
than promise a pretty good read
It may have taken far too long to write
Cliff Notes can be purchased for a drink
and it's more irreverant
than irrelevant I hope
And some chapters just aren't worth a damn

That way wandering bookstores too, I guess
some novels need to be stuck with
through the early chapters
and others not worth the nights
spent trying to find a plot
But I'm the author of my work
and hardly clear on that

Even so, some reviewers have been kind
There's a sense of style at the center
a phrase or two well turned
a hopefulness about the thing
The cover's raggedy, a few pages torn
Yet still, I'm at my best I hope
behind the binding