A Love Story, Whatever the Book Is, by Alan Feuer

 

 What quality is it that makes the sight of another person silently immersed in a book so attractive? Self-possession? Inaccessibility? Unguardedness? Hard to know, but it’s obviously the case — at least according to the following poems “found” recently in the  Missed Connections  section of newyork craiglist.org. They have been reprinted verbatim with only line and stanza breaks added; the titles are the subject headings. 

sitting in the fountain

you were the cute,
kinda dorky white girl
sitting in the fountain.

it’s midafternoon,
the sun is hitting your hair
the exact right angle,
and i’m gazing at you
but you fail to notice —
you’re too engaged in your book.

you have the most amazing
brown-ish glasses and fantastic kicks.
what book were you reading?

i hope you get back to me.

•

Girl Reading in the Vinnie’s Pizza Window

You were reading
a hefty hardcover,
looked up
and we locked eyes
as I passed.

If I didn’t have
a meeting
I would have stopped
and told you
you’re beautiful.

•

À bout de souffle at the Manhattan Courthouse

Waiting with all the other scofflaws
to be seen for whatever infraction
we had committed, I noticed you reading
“The Idiot” by Dostoevsky.

And I noticed you are beautiful.

The clerk told me that the cop
hadn’t filed the ticket (for riding
a bicycle on a sidewalk
next to the Manhattan Bridge in Bklyn).

“It’s your lucky day,” she said.
True, but that meant not having a chance
to speak with you. Alas,
I turn to Craiglist — weird but why not?

I may not be Belmondo — my hair is too curly
— but I was for those moments in line
before I was dismissed facing up to the law.
You, though, are Jean Seberg but even lovelier.

•

Girl three or four books into the twilight series

You beautiful redhead italian girl
sitting diagonally across from me,
a few books into twilight.

We’ve never spoken,
but you’ve watched me talk.
You are number one

I didn’t have the nerve to talk
but I’d like to stay in touch with you,

and i don’t want to wait
six years.

•

Willful Creatures

F train to Herald Square 8:30 am
We both wore our sunglasses
throughout the train ride

you stood next to me
against the back door,
and played with your
long curly hair,
while reading your book

Every time the train
rocked to the side
I hoped you would
lose your balance
and grab onto my arm

sadly,
your balance
was too good

•

You were reading Hesse On L Train

We stood near each other.
Definite eye contact.

You were quite fetching.
You were reading Hesse,
I was reading Bergman.
“car crash can’t help but look”
Pity the Nation:
The Abduction of Lebanon,
was in your hand.

I left thinking,
maybe we should have stopped
and talked
maybe over a cup coffee?

I don’t think its a car crash,
where one can’t help but look.
I think its a knot, that no one
has been able to untie,

Imagine a box of Christmas lights
all the wire are in tangles,
some bulbs are out.

But if you work long enough at it
you can untangle it.

•

Girl Reading Confederacy of Dunces, G Train

hi you
were sitting, beautiful
in your glasses
and your book —

and it was almost done,
and nobody ever commits
to finish a book anymore —

and your green jacket,
and i was in the blue hoody,
red shirt and jeans.

you were adorable,
lets walk and talk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/nyregion/poetic-connections-in-finding-a-reader-irresistible.html?recp=1&src=rec&pagewanted=print