"Never read a book through merely because you have begun it." -- John Witherspoon
I have embarked on an unusual path. Should the title of this post encourage you to think that I am doing something outlandish or painstaking, not true. This will be a short, side road trek, not a lengthy highway excursion. Last Tuesday, I prepped to return two books to Montclair State University's Sprague Library. One of those selections was Sun on the Night (1962), a book of poems by the late John Hazard Wildman, an English professor at Brown and Louisiana State universities in the mid 20th century. He also wrote biographical and fictional works, but this is the only known volume of his poetry to me. I started to follow Mr. Witherspoon's advice, had read two poems in the opening pages when, dare I say, boredom and, most of all, pressures of everyday living and a pile of other books on my nightstand called to me. Therefore, I decided to return the book. I drove to the university, parked my car in the parking deck and, prior to stepping out of the car and beginning the frigid, in 10 degree weather, on-campus walk, I said to myself -- and I DID say this, amid the desolation of the empty parking garage -- "Let me see what I am giving up here." I opened Sun on the Night to page 95, its last page, and read the last four lines of six page poem titled "Judas": A little way to walk, to stop, to find, And at the final point to stretch a hand, To feel the steady, faithful beating of a Heart, And name a Name. O Tenderness, at last. My opinion of poetry is twofold. When you read a selection, not all will speak to you in clarity. That is, unless you understand it or can decipher it well, you may be lost. However, sometimes it's the beauty of the words that induces reflections, of or to something, which is the other end of my opinion. These last four lines encouraged me to reflect on love, maybe on a college campus, a man and woman hugging in the snow -- certainly appropriate right now, or maybe a meeting of long lost lovers. Now, this may not be what Professor Wildman intended with his words, but does it matter? My perception of the book, which had probably sat on the library's shelf unopened and maybe even untouched for years prior to my "rising it from sleep," had changed. As I sat there in the cold car, the heat long turned off, something further awakened in me, a question. Would I be able to renew this book, and would I this time read it to completion, negating John Witherspoon's wisdom? Also, what could I do differently this time to ensure a full reading of this tiny offering? Then it came to me: I'll read it backwards, not each line of each poem, but an entire poem from beginning to end, starting with "Judas" and backtracking to page 15 (post-Preface and Table of Contents) and concluding with "To the Holy Trinity". Yes, the attraction of those last four lines in the book created an impression, but also doing something in an unusual manner, outside of a norm and comfort zone, no matter how wee, encourages new, inspired movement, different thoughts, and a challenge accepted. Steve
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Steve Sears is a New Jersey based freelance writer
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