Thursday Thoughts: Where I read

I read

in the passenger seat of my mom's car

where sometimes I rev my mental engines

and race through page after page

hurtling through an imaginary world

as quickly as I am hurtling through a real one

and sometimes I just end up talking to my mom

my book in my lap, unopened

but keeping me company all the same.

I read

splayed out on the couch

in comically uncomfortable postures

legs crossed, or leaning on one elbow

never quite sitting still

my sibling exclaiming while playing video games on the television

but the only thing that distracts me is my own mind

and even then, the best of books hold my attention

for hours.

I read

in the pitch-black darkness before bed

booklight shining

knees pulled up toward me

the night peaceful and not chilling

and even though I am going to stop reading,

I read a page more

and another page

and another

until bedtime arrives

just "leaning late and reading there," as Stevens said.

I read

the front flaps of books

at the bookstore

wondering why in the world

the young adult section

is practically a stage in the middle of the store

with a metaphorical spotlight glaring down on me

and yet I keep going back

braving the stares

that are a figment of my own imagination

and buying new worlds

to live in for a week or so.

I read

through the eyes

of my father

who would read us poems he loved before bed

poems that meant something to him

but, we knew, didn't have to mean something to us

for him to keep reading

his voice the rhythm of ocean waves

or the eyes

of my sibling

who doesn't like the books I recommend

even though I keep recommending them anyway

and who reads them

because it means something to me

or even the eyes

of other book lovers,

who read differently than I do

with different stories

different opinions

so many different ways of loving the same thing.

But perhaps most of all

I do not read

in any one place

location

or mindset.

I read

wherever the story takes me.

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I hope you enjoyed that poem, an original one by me and the very first poem I've ever shared on this blog! I'm not sure what compels me to use proper punctuation in prose writing and then to completely give up on commas in poetry, but here we are.

Where do you tend to get your reading done? Let me know in the comments below!

And don't forget that there's still time to enter in the Summer 2021 Book Giveaway, featuring signed and unsigned MG/YA books for you to win!