Katya Pilkington - 1

A Life of Books

Words

Confused me, at first.

Beginning of first grade;

See Spot Run was a code I hadn't cracked yet.

Try and try as I might, reading was

Elusive -

flighty as a frightened finch -

and I was never one for birds.

Yet, one day

It clicked.

The world of books opened up to me,

Raining words like manna from the heavens

And I, drenched, tilted my head back -

Opened my mouth -

And drunk them in.

 Katya Pilkington - 2

Once I started reading

I couldn't stop.

I read books

Like an old smoker

Chain smokes cigarettes.

Book after book after book.

 Katya Pilkington - 3

I carried

Stacks of books

Spanning from

Hip - to - chin.

The amount I could carry

Grew with me

Like growing alongside

A childhood friend.
 Katya Pilkington - 4

I’d maxout my library card,

The limits' 50 books -

100 at the city library.

I'd carry out

Bags of books

I could hardly lift -

Seams bursting from the

Weight of them.
 Katya Pilkington - 5

The library

Is a safe space.

A haven of words

And ideas.

My home,

My church,

My temple,

It was all of those

And none of them.

For what could you call the place

That held your everything

Except holy?
 Katya Pilkington - 6

No book discrimination here -

all subjects, sizes, genres -

old, new -

next to nothing off limits.

All are welcomed here.

 Katya Pilkington - 7

Then:

I told myself I didn't need to buy books,

The library was right there.

What more could I want?

Later:

I told myself that

buying used books was just fine -

New ones were too pricey.

Now:

My shelves are lines with new books,

Favorites to reread

And ones yet unread.

Slippery slope of want

How could I resist?

 Katya Pilkington - 8

My decorating style

Is bookcases stuffed

To the brim

With books.
 Katya Pilkington - 9

An unread book

Is a million universes

Of potential-

How could I ever rid myself

Of even a single one?

 Katya Pilkington - 10

Rereading my favorite books.

Is like being young again,

Like laying in the sun

With an old friend.

Reliving old memories,

Making new ones,

Past and present intermesh

Until I can’t tell them apart.

 Katya Pilkington - 11

Depression and adhd -

Stole the magic of books there for a bit.

I forgot what it was like

To consume words

Like I needed them more

Than air.

My mind is

A second set of lungs

Keeping me alive.

Without books

How could I breathe?

 Katya Pilkington - 12

Writing

Makes me

A young

God.

Some days I bleed

Words like ichor.

The line between

Worshiped and worshiper

Is blurred.
 Katya Pilkington - 13

The pages against my fingertips feel like home.