The Girl and her Book

In a little boat
with waves all around
sits a small girl and a book.

The waves toss and turn
and the boat's mightily thrown
but she doesn't even blink an eye.

The book tells her stories
of princesses and fairies
fine princes and stallions white.

The boat throws her over
and she sinks into the sea
holding tight to the book
that keeps her safe.

She drowns
and the mermaids
carry her to a castle
and her body is laid
to rest.

-- Marie Tai

Sometimes life is so terrible that we must escape in order to cope. For instance, in Pan's Labryinth, the little girl's imaginary world runs parallel to the more bloody, dark, and violent reality of war and her mother's death. While her imaginary world could be equally dark and menacing, it gave meaning and explanation to many of the unimaginable terrors occurring in her real life.

The past few weeks, I have buried myself in books. I read all eight of the Sookie Stackhouse books, and burnt through Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (which I totally recommend that you read). I found a safe place in these stories. Everything in them happened to somebody else, whether good or bad. I was just a spectator. At the same time, I identified with some of the characters and tried to make sense of my life through trying to understand these fictional people and circumstances. V. didn't think that doing this would be much good for me, and I can't explain how it helped me, but it did. I'm rather sad that I ran out of Sookie Stackhouse books to read. Perhaps it's like the end of a movie when your popcorn bucket is empty and you have to get up and return to real life.