Over the years, my book collection has grown, and I have given many books and journals away. Now I am grateful to browse at home, and read what I was not able to read before, for one reason or another.

Poetry journals, memoirs, novels, letters – books and journals at different times. Rereading is also a blessing, and can be a comfort when I don’t feel able to read something new; and yet I always learn more. If I know the story, for example, I look to learn a little more about how the author achieved the work. If I can easily reread a poem aloud and the poem is still new, the poet has achieved something beautiful.

Sometimes I know an author’s work so well, that a short selection recalls the whole work so far. I have read many books by Luci Shaw. As I write, I am looking at Sea Glass: New & Selected Poems by Luci Shaw (2016, WordFarm).

Over time, this creates comfort and a new history for me. I reread a poem, for example, and remember how the poem helped during a difficult time. And now time has passed, and rereading deepens my faith and hope.

So what I read and write now, is for today, and also for the future. And I remember as well, and am grateful to be writing this post today.