Back in April, which is ironically National Poetry Month, I did a bit of reorganizing and moved my to-be-read poetry pile to the bookshelf in my office. Now given their own space, I realized I had quite a stack to work through.

My to-be-read stack of poetry, April 2019

After seeing the unread books lined up I vowed to not buy any new books of poetry until I’d read at least half on this shelf. True to my word, I started working my way through the stack and refrained from buying from any additional books. By the end of September, my shelf looked decidedly emptier.

My to-be-read stack of poetry, September 2019

Then in quick succession I bought boy/girl/ghost by torrin a. greathouse, Odes to Lithium by Shira Erlichman, Diary of a Ghost Girl by Shay Alexi, How to Cook a Ghost by Logan February, and Good Grief by Mikey Swanberg. I did this for two reasons:

  1. I love poetry and am always interested in reading new poets that I find and love.
  2. I want to support poets and independent presses.

Not only do the above two reasons serve as huge motivators to keep buying poetry, but my new book, Beautiful & Full of Monsters, is now available for pre-order from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press. It would be hypocritical of me to ask others to order my book if I’m not ordering theirs. So I keep buying and reading poetry and I keep asking others to buy and read mine.

Of course, one thing I didn’t exactly plan for was the twice-annual library book sale. Not only do I attend every year but I volunteer every year as well, spending hours arranging and rearranging and reshelving books. And because I volunteer and am a lifetime Friends of the Arlington Library (FOAL) member, I get to purchase up to 20 books at a 50% discount (10 books for being a FOAL member, 10 books for volunteering). You can see where this is going…

My to-be-read stack of poetry, October 2019

Yup, it would appear I now have more books than I did in April when I first declared I wouldn’t buy any! Am I going to impose another “poetry embargo” upon myself? Not exactly. Here’s why: I love reading poetry – it helps with my own writing, it spurs my creativity, and it provides and outlet, one I very much need right now as I’m neck-deep in a rigorous academic program. Poetry is a creative outlet I won’t push to the side. But I will be selective in purchasing poetry – if there’s a book I’ve been anxiously awaiting publication, I’ll snatch it up. Or if a friend’s book is available, I’ll buy it. (Talking about you, Kristin!) But otherwise I’ll try to refrain from buying poetry…at least until I’ve worked through this pile that is. Or till the next library book sale…in six months. Guess I’d better get reading!