All the words

To be read on a bench.

I can never not stumble upon and wander into used bookstores. On street corners. Under buildings. Off snow-slicked sidewalks.

Here: wooden spice bottles for sale amid the cookbooks; a $3 decorative, glittering pear; stained bottles one would expect to find with messages in the salt spray; tiny tea sets; old children's desks; amber-handled, greening copper tea pots with the architecture books.

Books, books, books. Books everywhere. Books and mermaids. The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké.

Ella. Ella and the Duke. A bookstore with a soundtrack. The Very Thought of You: How I know all the words.