I Know You

10th Birthday Poem by Leanne Moden

I KNOW YOU

 

You love books.

Library books, second-hand books, 

and the brand-new books 

that still smell of fresh printing

and binding glue…

 

I know you. 

You love hardback back-track finding yourself books,

books stacked in nooks in every room of your home,

carefully curated and shelved 

three volumes deep,

the books you donate 

and the ones that you keep. 

The creep, creep, creep of one shelf

becoming two….

 

I know you. 

You love the water-wrinkled bathtime books,

the hook of a riveting first sentence,

the burst of adrenaline ascending

as the plot gets really, REALLY good,

like you absolutely, completely

KNEW that it would.

Bereft upon finishing, 

repeat readings never diminishing 

your love for what a book 

can do…

 

I know you. 

You love books bought on foreign holidays,

where the haze of sea salt and sangria infuses 

pages with possibility. The utility 

of cook books and car manuals;

children’s annuals from the seventies;

the brevity and beauty of a pamphlet of poems;

a familiar tale or one that’s totally unknown. 

The pure flights of fancy

and the ones that ring true…

 

I know you. 

You scan bunches of bestsellers

with your local weekly shop, 

narratives nestled neatly between 

the carrots and the pork chops. 

Stories snuggled in the boot 

amongst frozen peas and tins of stew…

I know you. 

You love the books whose pages 

are stained sticky with elbow grease 

and creased at your favourite pages,

the ones you whizz through

and the ones that take ages.

The ones whose edges are torn,

covers covered in dints,

whose black ink is smudged 

by the whirls of your fingerprints. 

You love pristine first editions 

that mean something to you, too.

 

I know you. 

You love the books that fostered

friendships and fandoms; the random,

sustaining community that stories can create. 

The comforting weight of characters who feel like family.  

A deep-seated comradery; the books that make you feel seen. 

The ones you love now, and those that 

nurtured you as a teen.

The ones that helped you get back, 

and the ones that helped you through…

 

You love books; I know you.