"We're still together and we still make forts": Love in Books

This is a cool site in which people recount the first books they received from their lovers. Even in its earliest stages, such luminaries as Robert Creeley, WB Yeats, and Joe Brainard (sampled below) make the roll.

My boyfriend and I first had that moment of recognition — that we got each other — when I sang “Father of Mine” by Everclear at Karaoke. We laughed but then said, “I actually think that’s a pretty good CD,” and that unironic love of Art Alexakis bound us forever.

Later that same night, we were hanging out in my kitchen and he saw The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara on my floor. I hadn’t met anyone who loved Frank O’Hara as much as I did, and I was in love. He drew a picture of a cow on a note pad and then said, “You should read I Remember by Joe Brainard, too. I think you’d really like him.” The notepad got tossed aside and I didn’t think much about it.

For our first Valentine’s Day, he and I built a fort in his living room. We made a big dinner and dessert and we made some funny collages and watched movies in our fort. And that night, he gave me I Remember.

I’ve used it for writing prompts for myself, I’ve picked it up when I can’t sleep and kind of leafed through the pages. He used it in a lesson for a 5th grade class he was teaching a poetry unit to as a visiting student teacher.

We’re still together and we still make forts but I remember our first Valentine’s Day, for sure. I remember a lot.

You can also follow the site on twitter @BooksTheyGaveMe and then maybe finally have an audience for your story about when Rick gave you John Giorno's Cancer in My Left Ball for Valentine's Day.