What Do You Do To (New) Books

What do you do when you buy books?
Stack them onto a shelf and look at them. Pretend to notice them for the first time. Hug them like a long lost best friend. Squeal with laughter and touch them, page by page. Put them onto your desk and pick them up for the first time. Open the middle and sniff in the wonderful stories and people and emotions. Sniff the smell that comes running with new books and old books and torn books and dusty books and all kinds of books.

What do you do when you buy books?
You feel the pages, ridden over with scribbled letters. You read one word and skip, afraid of ruining the story. You show them off in the mirror, to see how you look with them. You stand in an empty room and say aloud,"I've got books to read and I don't know what happens on page 22 yet!" Because all the books that you own, you can tell the story word to word. And then you laugh as if hit by an epiphany.

What do you do when you buy books?
You read them. Of course.




Poetry by Nabeela Altaf
Read 1195 times
Written on 2014-03-26 at 18:28

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F.i.in.e Moods The PoetBay support member heart!
Wonderfully delightful write, the love for books is so strongly felt. Made me smile as I completely connect with the feeling :)
2014-03-29



I smell them, sleep with them, and read them. In that order. Nice piece. I like your exuberance.
2014-03-27



I love this! It reminds me so much of the way I feel about books, to which I come back again and again to enjoy the touch and their stories. Beautifully written!
2014-03-26