Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.

After Mark Grist’s ‘Girls who Read’

Some girls want a man with blue starry eyes

or a man with a sense of humour.

I want a man who murders.

I’ll know him by the thin red curve under his nails

and the twist of scar across his left hand

which says ‘I fight to win.’

I want a man who cuts throats like butter

and kisses under his own code of honour.

I want him to take me by the hand, heart and windpipe.

I want to fear nothing but him,

to live on the verge of combustion.

I want him to grip me like a dagger.

I’m going to paint my lips red

and mark him mine when the sun hits the gutter.

I’m going to dress in red to hide the splatters.

I want to stroke my man’s hair

when it’s all over, I want to cry to my man

from the bottom of a river.

I don’t want someone who thinks he deserves me,

I want a man who murders.

What else do I read books for?