Many Authors

have pronounced on 'the death of the novel'
and yet writing is a form of art that still lives.

Publishers still pump books out,
promoting new works via websites
where in the depth of presentation
the public don't know who paid for what.

Authors are still interviewed on talk radio
where the looser their tongues
the better they can promote their new book
as if their future wealth depends on it.

And authors whose work is out copyright
still thrive when experts and biographers
speak up for the very long gone,
as if they were members of a pantheon.