The path of least resistance in our house is to the couch and turning on the television.
“What do you want to do?” one of us will ask.
“I don’t know, what do you want to do?” we live forty minutes from the glory of the beach and the wondrous Atlantic, but after a reflective pause, someone says, “Want to watch tv.”
We watch television together, on the same couch, in front of the same set, speechless during and after. The television does the work for us. The adventures and the dialogue are all set out before us. Little is required. The greatest distance crossed is to get some popcorn if we can agree on a show and a snack.
We are losing the power of words shared, of life expressed. Books, especially poetry, are often life giving when shared together. My favorite example is from D.C. Berry,
On Reading Poems to a Senior Class at South High
Before
I opened my mouth
I noticed them sitting there
as orderly as frozen fish
in a package.
Slowly water began to fill the room
though I did not notice it
till it reached
my ears
and then I heard the sounds
of fish in an aquarium
and I knew that though I had
tried to drown them
with my words
that they had only opened up
like gills for them
and let me in.
Together we swam around the room
like thirty tails whacking words
till the bell rang
puncturing
a hole in the door
where we all leaked out
They went to another class
I suppose and I home
where Queen Elizabeth
my cat met me
and licked my fins
till they were hands again.
If you have a favorite poem or book, share it. Post it on your Facebook page, email a friend. If you like an author’s works, go on line and star them, recommend them, share a comment or review on how their words connect you to life and to others. Care enough to share! If you’re willing to write a review on one of my books, then click the following link: http://amazon.com/author/dwjones.
