Lois Villemaire
Books Are Our Friends
my mother repeated
like a prayer
teaching us to respect
those printed pages,
fostering love of reading.
She grew up walking
to her local library.
Don’t scribble, write or color inside
she often reminded as we placed
the pile of picture books
from the library on the kitchen table
leafing through stories and poems
eager to hear our favorites
our eyes on familiar images.
No pencils, pens, or crayons
shall be used on these pages.
We understood—
except my youngest brother
who secretly scribbled
stick houses, triangles,
rectangles, and doodles
with a red magic marker
on the pages of The Gingerbread Man.
Lois Perch Villemaire of Annapolis, MD is the author of My Eight Greats, a family history in poetry and prose and Eyes at the Edge of the Woods (Bottlecap Press). She is a contributing writer to AARP The Ethel. Lois, a Pushcart nominee, enjoys researching genealogy and propagating African violets.