One - not mine - whose cover I got bent
One which upset me in Israel
One full of sand
One I ate the corners off when eight
One without Orion on the cover
One whose back I broke
One I sold to the highest bidder
One I keep re-reading for the emerald
One where someone dies
More than one where someone dies...

One with a train ticket sticking out of it
One I showed off with a falcon on the cover
One covering another one I'm embarrassed about
One full of violins my friend paid £350 for
One given to Foyles by Goebbels?
One about books
One about reading (I thought it said 'Reading')
One I ought to have written
More than one I ought to have written...

One whose author I'm going to write to
One full of lovely nonsense to post to America
One I've read about but will never see
One fat one me and Michael bought half each
One with the most important line I'll ever read
More than one with the most important line I'll ever read...

One whose blurb infuriates me
One both Emily and me had read to us
One with the most beautiful cover of all
One on Yeats I read the whole of
One I can read in French!
One I couldn't read in German
One where friendship makes life worse loving
One with the Master and Disciple
More than one with the Master and Disciple...

One in my bag I'd like to be reading right now
One which kicked me out of the nest
One we read out loud in bed
One glued onto a trilogy, trying to murder its host
One I gave a German because I like him - no,
One I gave a German because I fancy him
One made me so happy I laughed like a madman
One I'm about to read, but I don't yet know its title
More than one...

They just don't stop coming, and already
This poem is too long

© 2000 Dharmachari Padmavyuha

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