There’s a shelf behind the counter you can’t quite see from the front. It’s where I keep the poems I read between rushes — the ones that make the rest of the day softer.

The list

• ‘Wild Geese’ by Mary Oliver
• ‘Kindness’ by Naomi Shihab Nye
• ‘The Summer Day’ by Mary Oliver (again, sorry)
• ‘A Brief for the Defense’ by Jack Gilbert
• ‘Try to Praise the Mutilated World’ by Adam Zagajewski

“You do not have to be good. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

If you ever want to borrow one, just ask. We keep loaner copies for the long readers.