Happy Birthday, Survival by Book

here's to an entire year of reading for dear life

Hello, friends, how are you?

I was scooting around the interwebs this week looking for something fun to commemorate the one year anniversary of Survival By Book, and I think I found just the right thing—a sonnet by the novelist and poet, Brad Leithauser.

First Birthday

You have your one word, which fills you to brimming.
It’s what’s first to be done on waking.
Often the last at day-dimming:
Lunge out an arm fiercely,
As though your heart were breaking,
Stab a finger at some stray illumination—
Lamp, mirror, distant dinner candle—
And make your piercing identification,

“‘ight! ‘ight! ‘ight!"
Littlest digit, you’ve got the world by the handle.
Things must open for you, you take on height,
Your sole sound in time reveal itself
As might, too, and flight. And fright.
Some will be gone. But you will come right.

So, obviously, I have more than one word at my disposal—arguably far too many words!

That said, this poem really struck a chord. Starting Survival by Book did feel a bit like taking a toddler-sized st…