Hunting the Perfect Book for Today

 

A cloudy day with bouts of rain,

a public holiday long weekend.

I decide to stay in my PJs all day,

eat easy-cook comfort food, 

and look through my bookshelves

for something equally delicious

to savour – or to add more sweet.

My home is full of bookshelves!

The biggest ones won’t fit the unit

so they’re out in the garage, lining

the long, high walls. They hold

my huge poetry collection (I’ll have to

donate it to some institution in my will);

my art books, from Old Masters to Banksy; 

a big shelf of those novels I must frequently 

re-read (some I’ve loved since childhood, 

others discovered over all the rest of my life);

another shelf detailing a range of spiritual

and energy healing manuals, plus wisdom 

for the soul, including the King James version 

of the Bible (the one that’s written in poetry);

and a shelf full of books on magic – not

the stage kind, but witchcraft, Druidry, 

shamanism, ceremonial magicianship and

the Qabala. Then, inside the house, the tall

bedroom bookshelf houses my several translations

of the I Ching, a number of other oracles, and

my many tomes on theTarot. Plus all my cards.

The lounge-room shelves are for overflow:

my favourite books for writers; some biographies;

feminist classics; encyclopaedias; books I wrote;

books my late husband wrote; folders full of my 

early poems (before I stored them on computer);

and old journals (ditto). But, hooray! I finally find

what I want on the virtual shelf, my beloved e-reader.

Written for FridayWritings #225 at Poets and Storytellers United, which invites us to find inspiration on our bookshelves.