The Joy of Being Able to Read
Aging My Way
Polish poet Wisława Szymborska, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature, wrote a poem called Possibilities in which she noted her preferences. I love it.
Among her preferences were cats, Dickens to Dostoyevsky, the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems, Grimms’ fairy tales to the newspapers’ front pages, and the hell of chaos to the hell of order.
It’s a long poem, and by the end of it I felt as if I had come to know Wislawa, and if she had been a friend I would have grieved her death in 2012. Now I just feel a sense of loss because I didn’t know her.
The poem, meanwhile, inspired me to think about my own preferences. I prefer dogs to cats, although I do not dislike the latter, and was owned by one named Chigger for 18 years.
Fantasy, mystery and memoir are my favorite reading matter, although I also read just about anything except true crime and horror. I get enough of those genres from today’s newspapers. I could add TV news but I don’t listen to it. I read my realities.
As for writing, to not do so for me would be about the same as not breathing.
Finally, as much as I try to order my days, which Dorothy Gilman (author of the Mrs. Pollifax series which I adore) says can’t be done like a table setting, I quickly become bored without surprises. I love spur of the moment activities – and disorder seems to follow me around.
It seems Wislawa and I have a lot in common, which of course I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t come across her poem in The Marginalian, Maria Popova’s newsletter. (newsletter@themarginalian.org). The joy I get from reading, especially these days when I’m nesting more than adventuring, is a magnificent treasure.
So, what are you reading?
Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion Scamp. She is an avid reader whose mind is always asking questions (many of which are unanswerable), an enthusiastic birder, staff writer for Story Circle Network’s Journal, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.
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