Tuesday, April 16, 2013

National Poetry Month


To celebrate National Poetry Month, the library has a neat little table filled with book puns. I don't care much for poetry. There are a few great poets, like Poe, who can capture my imagination however, that's not what this post is about.




  I love libraries. I remember going to the Sand Creek Library almost every week and checking out books. Over the summer the library featured programs that rewarded you with a beanie baby knock off if you read so many books. My sister and I would grab stacks of books and spent all week reading just to get a crappy little stuffed animal. She would read out loud to me.

She would summarize books she had read that were a little too much for my age at the time and make up her own stories, relate them to our neighborhood and lives. We would go on walks through the block and she would say things like, this is a zoo now and in each house an animal lives. Underneath that brush there is a leopard! This empty lot is a for a cheetah! Unfortunately, her wild imagination is also spawns from her mental illness, which turned pretty violent around puberty.

Even when she moved out and went to live with my dad, I still went to the library. I walked, rode my bike, checked out books and still find myself in libraries when I need to feel connected to something.

In middle school, you'd find me with my nose in a book, sitting in the corner. In high school, I joined impromptu book clubs, because the Sword of Truth novels captured the imagination of a random collection of students. My love for fantasy novels led me to find a medieval combat group and now I'm a part of a HEMA community. I'm graduating, in thirty-one days, with a history degree due to my love of reading.

My interests, imagination, and motivation sprung forth from the pages of books. Libraries are my havens, walls of books to guard me against the world by introducing me to it. When I feel I don't understand people, my empathy is found within the pages of someone's mind spill. I am never alone when I read, but feel connected to people even more.




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