I fear <br />I will never fall in love <br />With screeds of words <br />On screens however small <br />Like I fell for <br />And still adore <br />Books <br /> <br />The look of them <br />The smell of the stores <br />The pristine ones <br />Or the ones with second hand books <br />Piled in dust <br />With pages that hold <br />Scribbled in the margins <br />Someone's sudden thought <br />Caught between the pages <br /> <br />The feel of them <br />Their weight <br />Their telling spoiling creases <br />And traces of ancient <br />Mayo and coffee stains <br /> <br />I fear <br />I will never fall in love <br />With texting and tweeting <br />The way I love <br />The spoken <br />Or the carefully written <br />Word <br /> <br />Whoever heard of <br />Friends you've never met <br />Never touched their wet tears <br />Their dry aged hands <br />Or sweet limber young cheeks <br />Or seen their smile; <br />It's all so antiseptic <br />And bland <br />Amd lacks blood <br />And skin and touch <br />Like using a condom <br />After being a bareback teenage <br />Pre AIDS <br />Whore <br /> <br />It's all very necessary <br />I fear <br />To progress technologically <br />But still I long for <br />Words wrapped in covers <br />Between bookends <br />And conversations <br />With real live friends<br /><br />Carlton Carr<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bookends-5/
