This post is part of 805's “My Home Library” series that features writers and artists enjoying their home libraries during the pandemic and beyond.
We weren’t there when it started
we won’t know
how it all ends—
but these stories in the middle
are the books that we lend
from the library
of the universe and
the book of the whole world.
The time
it takes to borrow
is just how long it takes tomorrow
to start again.
Before we ever existed
and before we had a breath,
from the stars our lives were molded
and from dust,
we defied death.
Then we learned to speak
we learned to laugh,
painted the night sky with our songs.
The language
of the sunrise
gave us a reason wrapped in disguise
to wake again.
But how do we know just how far we run
or how long it takes just to
touch the sun?
How do we know what becomes of us
when the sun has died
and we return to dust?
McKenna Themm graduated summa cum laude with her B.A. in Literature and Writing from CSUSM. She is currently an MFA in Creative Writing: Poetry student at San Diego State University. Her poems have been published by The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Poet, Bryant Literary Review, pacificREVIEW, Luna Luna, 805, JMWW, and The Stray Branch. She is writing her first full-length ekphrastic collection of poems, based on the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. She is the managing editor at the Los Angeles Review, a Content Strategist at Archer Education, and the MFA Director’s Assistant at SDSU.
