Secret Reading Matter, by Tadeusz Dąbrowski, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
I take the books left for free recycling mainly for their smell,
I stick my nose among the pages, into business not my own,
then stroll around someone else’s home,
peeping into their kitchen and their bedroom. But once
their smell has faded and the book’s imbued with mine,
I leave it at a bus stop or in a mailbox.
Busy nonstop with their crimes, their love lives,
good and evil, keeping an eye on the time
and the setting, the characters haven’t a clue how many books
they’re carrying away in their clothing
Please click here for more information on Tadeusz Dąbrowski.
Thanks as always to the lovely Alison McGhee for finding and sharing these poems.
alisonmcghee.com
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