I keep a list of all the books I’ve ever read.
A catalogue of all the presents I receive.
It is not the reading of the book,
Or the opening of the gift,
That excites me.
It is the afterwards.
Like the look you give
After sex, days later, at dinner.
I write that down, too.
How many times, how long it lasted.
I don’t mark these things out of ten,
I don’t compare them to each other.
They are just there –
For data.
A hoarding of my history.
Charlotte Cosgrove is a poet and English lecturer from Liverpool, England. Her work has appeared in Trouvaille Review, Dreich, The Literary Yard, The Broadkill Review, Wingless Dreamer, Confingo, Beyond Words and various anthologies online and in print. She is editor of Rough Diamond poetry journal. Her first poetry book Silent Violence with Petals will be published with Kelsay Books in June 2022.
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