One of my goals for my 50th year is to read 50 books. This is an ambitious goal for me and while I am off to a good start, I realize that a few quick reads may help me accomplish this goal. I think a lot about why I read. I talk to my students about why we read and what counts as reading. Does it count when I read instagram posts? How about signs or instructions? Comics and articles in People magazine? I mostly read fiction, memoirs and books for work.
Last week I was at the thrift store looking for a new coat for my son and checking out the book selection, I came across "The trouble with poetry" by Billy Collins and tossed it into my cart. I don't read much poetry. I'm not sure if it counts as reading, in the same way I avoid short stories. I don't get it, at least not in the way I think I am supposed to and I wonder if I am supposed to read the poems in order, do I have to read all the poems for it to "count"?
Anyway, the past few nights I have been reading a poem to my husband before we go to bed. Last night I read Monday, which began "The birds are in their trees, the toast is in the toaster, and the poets are at their windows." Collins goes on to mention the job of proofreaders and the "ping-pong game of proofreading". I wonder what it would be like to edit or proofread a book of poetry. How strange when each word seems so specific and spare. The words hanging together to tell a story with so much left untold. I think it might feel powerful to say, "No. I meant it to be exactly like that. Those exact words in that order"
Next to him
the feel of him next to me
the smell of him and the hard softness
falling asleep as he reads
waking up and moving closer
dreams fading away
moments of enough