There were nouns that provided a certainty and
verbs that gave muscle, the adjectives were things
of color and lace and grip, yes! mostly gripping.
And even as I savored the metallic flavor of the
binding, there was a keen sense of rules forming.

Rules to live by, in the ultimate calculus of stories,
a certain wealth, the living of day by day, in a life
that couldn’t – or just wouldn’t – conform to
the geometry the other kids presented, but I ~
I had my night dreams, daydreams, and words
in lovely bound storybooks for twenty-five cents.

© 2013, poem, Jamie Dedes, All rights reserve, Licensing for online publications is nonnegotiable and requires permission, attribution, link to this site, my copyright, no modification, noncommercial only. Licensing for online publication does not imply agreement for further use in the site’s printed anthologies or collections.
Photograph ~ from eBay HERE. Book art (1942) ~ either in public domain or still owned by the publisher.