Mariner and Cowboy move through the catalogue,
eyeing the stacks admiringly to please both Janes.
They rub the Braille books to their faces,
fill the Rose room’s tables with travel guides,
National Geographics, comic books and maps.
Jane offers them geology, biology, Qu’ran,
and Homer, but they are too far into their ’88
Batman: A Death in the Family—the one where
Joker beats Jason Todd with a crowbar, where
the American public voted for death via hotline.
Outside, Patience and Fortitude guard the doors,
snow grizzling their marble manes. Inside,
Jason and his mother, trapped in a warehouse,
clock counting down to zero.