I keep hearing that to be a good writer one must love to read, MUST have a passion for reading, must devour books like sex and chocolate. Define "read." Reading is consumption by the senses, or rather, consumption of signals being fed into the senses.

I devour images.
I devour sound.
I devour scent.
I devour taste.
I devour physical contact.

I read the bend of branches at midnight. I read that space in the air connecting sound to ear. I read new smells in every new breeze. I read the sweet of fruit spreading across my tongue. I read the touch of my fingertips on still air. I read faces, eyes, the movement of the body interpreted through the movement of my body. My body reads music, reads beats, reads rhythm and melody.

I am exhausted with trying to squeeze myself into the accepted definition of Writer, with its heavy and narrow implied definition of Reader. I read the wholeness of the experience when I allow myself to do so. There is no other way I know to read.

Challenge:
Stick your hand out of a moving car.
(If you're a passenger, close your eyes.)
Hide it behind the side view mirror.
Read stillness.
Raise it up.
Feel your hand give way to the wind.
Read.
The nerves on your hand are being overwhelmed with air, just air.
Read.
This is yours now...

June 2005

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