Voluminous Endeavors

 

If I stock up on scads of new books that spill

Over shelves already stocked to the brim

It is good.

 

If O’Henry shares Poppy Varley’s book shelf with Laocoon

Louisa May and Isabelle Allende

All the better!

 

If the kitchen table tilts with stacks of stuff –

Pat Schneider Writing Alone and With Others

A Field Guide to North American Birds teetering over

Caste and the Astonishing August March,

Well, so be it.

 

I am reading my way through months and months

With old thoughts and new thoughts

Always other ideas to consider.

 

For this time of consolidated reading

Day after day after day

I thank generations of writers, librarians,

Book sellers, publishers, editors,

And also an instigator extraordinaire

The covid-19 pandemic.

                            Kate Lydon Varley