April 17 is my grandmother’s birthday; she would’ve been 101 today. So I wanted to honour her again by a poem that explores my reading ancestry.
The Poetic Factoid was going to be about the correlation between reading & various genetic traits, until I came across a word in my research & I knew the poem had to be about that.
*****
the genetics of reading
looking back through time
there’s a definite lineage
a genetic heritage of literature
my mother’s always been deep
into crime to which I was a late comer
her greatest gift to me was green Anne
the Poldarks surprised me by being
much more than mere bodice
ripping regency romances
— teen me returned the favour by hooking her on fabulous fantasy
mum was clearly given gifts from her mother as both
delighted in the murders & mysteries of Dame Agatha
Georgette Heyer & Dorothy L Sayers ; gran even
read James Bond, Alistair McLean & similar thrillers
when younger before migrating to Danielle Steele &
almost anything Large Print by the end of her eyes
— wish I could’ve got her opinion on Julia Quinn
grandad was much more factual
a biographical non-fiction kinda guy
books on birds & the natural world
histories the English language
the bulk of which I inherited
including naturally fittingly
— his impressive leather bound editions of poetry
it gives me great pleasure sharing
these generational reading genes (even if
my pants are a bit bigger than theirs)
******
Day 17 Factoid — to read or not
A Presbyopian Inspired Drought
the one time in my life
i’ve read very little
was for a year or so
a decade ago when
every book bored me
when i could not
sit still long enough
to complete a chapter
even a couple of pages
it was aberrant behaviour
for a life long wyrm
finally i realised
the print was blurring
eight to ten inches
from my eyes — but
within a month
the magic of specially
tailored super glass
scientifically ordained
specifically adapted
for my ageing eyes
brought the magic back
gareth roi poet boi 