This item is a one page, 14-line "sonnet" purportedly written by Robert B. Parker to his wife Susan. It was released in a limited edition of 100 copies, and sells at the exorbitant price of ~200 dollars. As reflected in its title, its rhyme scheme follows that of the poet Edmund Spenser (1552-1599), the poet from whom Parker took the name of his fictional detective. The sonnet is amateurish and clumsy, and fails to scan. As to how his wife enjoyed being compared to "a serpent king, who can cause death with a single glance" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilisk -- we are not told.

Parker presumably did this for the money. If it was a private and meaningful sentiment of emotion, why would he make it public? And why else would he release it for sale to the general public at such a price, if not for monetary gain? (One can imagine him chortling, "these fools will buy anything with my name on it", a fact already demonstrated by the succession of minimalist, half-hearted works that make up the latter part of his career).

For "completists" who want to have read every jot or tittle produced by Parker, there's no need to spend hundreds of dollars on this item. The photograph included with this LT listing renders the text legible. Read it, and you too can enter the item here at Library Thing as something you've read. ( )