When words are all on the screen,
everyone forgets about
the love of paperbacks.
The love of softcover paperback books
shows how much you adore the written word.
Like vinyl shows a tangible love of music.
They show you are hungry for books
how you don’t have the money to buy the hardcover
and are resisting ebooks.
Lovers of words should touch them, write them,
caress them, hold them in their original form
smell them, know them as you recognise a human
as they come from the ether,
from whatever exotic country they are born in
to the writer, editor, to read them out aloud
then onto their home through the ages
to their final destination in some readers eyes, souls and dreams
to then finally, return from whence they came.
Battered covers are well-loved and re-read
crisscrossed calligraphy shows
classroom notes and learning
while yellowed pages are
a long-lasting love affair,
My paperbacks are like sunburnt Sienna.
I’m frightened to touch them else they will disintegrate
their tiny print was once easy to rip through,
but now they are difficult to read
they seem like spidery footprints
who gives me a headache
The paperbacks on my shelf are a time machine
they take me back to when I was young
voracious and wanting to read everything
now I still want to satisfy my appetite
I know I cannot read everything
so I’m more selective
I have moved onto a virtual text
which is as fleeting as a thought
when I finish reading a book
I often wonder if I actually read at all
I miss my book stacks
holding them and turning their pages
swiping on a screen is so mechanical
while touching, smelling and devouring each word is bliss.
