Popular Poems About Books

where’s the next george orwell, you ask.
but there won’t be,
nor the next samuel johnson, nor swift,
come to that.

but there might be
someone else entirely
fit for the role of the boy who laughed
at the emperor’s new clothes

I’m losing all interest in the internet
offers plenty of other poetry sites
but they all seem so po faced with all that
I’ll stay at home with my my books  

as a child I’d sit in the library
next door to the park reading Wodehouse,
when I should have been at school
scared me frankly they asked too much

of me, what was this divided by that,
cross country running, swimming,
do you want a fight, why, what’s the point out
trafalgar upon a map

I told him, take it all—  
Just give me my books,  
My refuge, my solace, my world.  
Turning each page, tuning out the noise,  
It’s just me and Bukowski’s words for the night.  

While others sing nursery rhymes,  
I read Poe to my children.  
I thought it vital that they, too,  
Could quote the verses that stir the soul—  
To fall deep into the poetry,  
Let it seep into their hearts.

When I read, I am whole,  
But you, you called it an addiction.  
Of all the cravings I could possess,  
Books are the only...