Rearranging

I have wanted for ages to re-organize my books,

but how? All the poetry together first?  All the

religious and spiritual next to psychology? 

All the prize-winning novels and short story

collections?  All the hard covers, then the

paperbacks? No, look--I am arranging my

books like a timeless dinner party, like

my friend Michael who places CD’s of

mnext to other musicians he thinks

they might like to hang out with.

This way T.S. Elliot gets to meet Rumi

   at his Cocktail Party. Gabriel Garcia

Marquez and Haruki Murikami can talk

about Kafha on the Shore and Love in the

Time of Cholera. Earnest Gaines can share

A Lesson BeforeDying with William Faulkner,

As he Lays Dying. Annie Proulx can send her

Postcards to Carl Rogers Way of Being.

Ram Dass can tell Joan Didion The Year of

Magical Thinking was all Grist  for the Mill. 

Amy Tan and Anita Daimant can have an

awakening sharing One Hundred Secret

Scents inside The Red Tent.  Michael Talbot

and Barbara Kingslover can dream Animal

Dreams in The Holographic Universe. 

Oh, yes, this is the way to arrange.  Mary

Oliver and Christina Adam—would so much

appreciate and honor Red Bird, since—you

   know—Any Small Thing Can Save You—

Something as small as re-arranging ones

books and finding a brand new collection.