Books

The universe (which others call the library). . . -Jorge Luis Borges Books which are stitched up the center with coarse white thread Books on the beach with sunglass-colored pages Books about food with pictures of weeping grapefruits Books about baking bread with browned corners Books about long-haired Frenchmen with uncut pages Books of erotic engravings with pages that stick Books about inns whose stars have sputtered out Books of illuminations surrounded by darkness Books with blank pages & printed margins Books with fanatical footnotes in no-point type Books with book lice Books with rice-paper pastings Books with book fungus blooming over their pages Books with pages of skin with flesh-colored bindings Books by men in love with the letter O Books which smell of earth whose pages turn