Reading Beyond Reading Week

There’s a lot to do this reading week. Studying, resting, and seeing friends. I’m excited for it all. But why don’t we also take this upcoming week at its name? And read?

Reading helps. It helps the mind. It inspires and brings emotional company. It’s interesting. Reading also helps with stress. So much so that it’s been found to reduce stress by up to 68% according to a study done by the University of Sussex in 2009. (Source: HuffPost)

But finding time to read is difficult.  I read during my free time. But what happens when I’m busy?

I’m one of those people that’s constantly wishing she could read more. I buy books and books and books, and pile them up on my shelf. I wonder and dream about them, yet so many of them remain unopened.

A reading remedy for busy people that I’ve found is reading poetry. Poetry is complex and ambiguous in its own ways, but many poems are short. They can be read quickly, instead of starting a novel during reading week, with a complicated plot and characters, only to be forgotten by the time winter break comes along.

So I take poetry collections along with me. I open them up on the bus and read a few poems by the time I get to school. It works. 

I challenge you to try. Even if you read one poem each day: you’re reading. You’re learning. You’re breathing. 

Here’s one to get you started:

Poem

As the cat
climbed over
the top of

the jamcloset
first the right
forefoot

carefully
then the hind
stepped down

into the pit of
the empty
flowerpot

  – William Carlos Williams 

I encourage you to dive into reading the same way. Carefully. Then all at once.

By: Gabriela Gueorguiev