By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg
I grew up in a reading
home. Mom and Dad would read the paper together, trading sections as each
finished. Living in a home before the days of television (and even pre-electric
for the first few years) I realize we didn’t have some of the distractions of
our present day but some evenings every person in the family would have a book
in hand, or, be listening to one. And that fostered a love of reading. When Mom
was an older teenager, she wrote a column for the local newspaper about
neighborhood happenings. She was paid with a subscription and years later, when
I was growing up, we still got a free paper that she had earned for us.
One of my fondest early memories
was when Dad took us to the library in Charleston, Missouri, and we went home
with an armload of books! And I discovered that when we had read them we could take
them back and get more! It was an awesome experience for a boy who couldn’t
remember a life without reading and had just discovered to read for himself. All
of our family members are readers and book lovers, and many of us are writers.
Some time ago I wrote two of my favorite poems on the subject of reading. I
share them with you here. I dedicate them to my family—past, present and future—and
to their love of reading.
The
Gift
I
received it from my parents
a lifetime ago.
The family read together—
it was part of
being home.
One reading, others listening,
or each with
book in sheltered cove
In summer ’neath the shade tree
in winter by the
stove.
We gave it to our children—
this gift of
love received,
before they could know or understand
the words that
we would read.
Dr. Zeus and Eggemier,
The train that Tried
and the
Little Red Hen—
We watched their bright eyes sparkle
as reading would
begin.
And now our children's children
are readers once
again.
I don't know when it started.
I hope it never
ends.
--Rick Blumenberg
The Key
Read my child
and no
one can enslave you.
A book shall be your golden key
to a
strong unopened door.
With a book and time to read it
the
whole earth you can roam
And where others cannot travel
you will
be at home.
Read my child
and
travel far upon the deep.
Walk abroad on distant shores
while others
are asleep!
A book shall be your ocean barque
to sail the
distant seas
And reading be your shining wing
To ride
upon the breeze.
--Rick
Blumenberg
I’m Rick Blumenberg and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.
