Paperback Love

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.