Reading Myself

The story Three Girls by Joyce Carol Oates tells the story, presumably fictitious, of two girls encountering Marilyn Monroe in New York City's bookstore, the Strand. At one point in the story, still in silent awe (and shock), the two girls, self proclaimed poets, watch Marilyn browse through several poetry books. Oates goes on to write, "You could see that this individual [Marilyn Monroe] was a reader. One of those who reads. With concentration, with passion. With her very soul. And it was poetry she was reading, her lips pursed, silently shaping words. Absent-mindedly she wiped her nose on the edge of her hand, so intent was she on what she was reading. For when you truly read poetry, poetry reads you."

The last sentence is the one that most forcefully calls my attention. Literature as a whole is an extremely powerful influence, poetry though is certainly the most powerful from within that entire realm. Just as theology is the queen of all the sciences, poetry is the theology of literature. Yet of all literature, including poetry, there is one book which rises above all others. If poetry, or other forms of literature, are capable of reading onself, that is, reading the reader than this book is certainly the one most capable of performing such a feat. The Bible pierces through the pages of our life, scrutinizing even to the very marrow, or, to put it more literarily, it can even read between the lines. The Bible is a wonderful book, it is even capable of reading you!