Books

I love these books I’ve never read
lying around like bodies I've never fucked.
I love these books that I have read.
I keep them right here by my bed.
I can hardly cross the room without taking two or three
with me for company and security.
I pick one, a cherry cordial
from a box of chocolates.
Ulysses
would be delicious
if I only had the patience.
Keats
I read
a line here or there
but my mind won’t adhere.
The Bible
I'm liable
to get around to it one of these days,
I've heard Jesus had some pretty good things to say.
Parker and Twain in Viking Portable,
Their greatest hits yet still affordable.
Salinger. We’ve all read everything he’s ever done.
He’s given us such attractive people to become.
Proust, his pages an aged brown
I put my nose in the spine and swoon.
Shawn and Chabon,
O’Hara and Crane,
Whitman, Rilke, and Lorca,
Shakespeare, the indisputable,
thank you, thank you, thank you all.
You are as dear to me as any friends I’ve ever had.