Dry January

What actual sacrifice 

would be required

to pencil in 

one more thing 

to the growing 

list of denials?

Just a few more 

words on paper, 

maybe a diagram

showing how all 

things grow from

one dormant seed.

[LSS, 12/31/20]

In The Reading Room

The book didn’t slip to the floor. 

I threw it there with what I had 

intended the other readers 

to see as a lighthearted gesture. 

We all laughed. 

But then the bruises appeared,

and I had to explain to the librarian 

what that book had done to me.

[LSS, 12/31/20]

Bookmark

Only a split second

between letting others 

see you and being 

closed inside a book.

[LSS, 12/31/20]