The Book

The Book by Miller Williams

I held it in my hands while he told the story.

He had foound it in a fallen bunker,
a book for notes with all the pages blank.
He took it to keep for a sketchbook and diary.

He learned years later, when he shpwed the book
to an old bookbinder, who paled, and stepped back
a long step and told him what he held,
what he had laid the days of his life in.
It's bound, the binder said, in human skin.

I stood turning it over in my hands,
turning it inmy head. Human skin.

What child did this skin fit? What man, what
woman?
Dragged still full of its flesh from what dream?

Who took it iff the meat? Some other one
who stayed alive by knowing how to do this?
I starred at the changing book and a horror grew,
I starred and a horror grew, which was, which is,
how beautiful it was until I knew.

This poem really struck me. It left more of a mark on me than any other poem we have read in this class. It begins with someone telling a person the story of his discovery of a mysterious book with blank pages. Then the author, Miller Williams, tells the true nature of the book. That it is bound by human skin. Finally, the person holding the book is struck with horror as he or she finally realizes the book's real meaning. The first stanza stood out to me because it is only one line. "I held it in my hands while he told me the story." I think the one lined stanza is a symbol for the book because it is one of a kind and different from any other book because it is made of "human skin." I'm not sure if the author means for the book to be literally made out of human skin though or if the book is even a book. I think the book is a symbol for the lies that people unkowningly build their lifes on, when people turn the other way and do not understand what people have done and do to other people. "An old book keeper... told him what he held, what he had laid the days of his life in. It's bound... in human skin." This part was when I first thought the book was a symbol rather than an actual book. "What child did this skin fit? What man, what woman? Dragged still full of its flesh from what dream? Who took it off the meat? Some other one who stayed alive by knowing how to do this?" This part is reffering to the people who stole dreams from other people, who robbed them of their chance. This part was also where I saw the significance of the blank pages. The blank pages are a symbol of the people who were "dragged" still full of life from their dreams and never got to lay their life down in a book. The last stanza is what realy hit home for me. "I starred at the changing book and a horror grew, I starred and a horror grew, which was, which is, how beautiful it was until I knew." This really hit me because I could relate this to so many situations past and present. When I was reading this poem, I kept relating it to slavery. I kept thinking of the thousands of men, women, and children who were dragged from their dreams so other people could build a life for themselves. "The book" is horrific because you think something so very horrible is incredibly beautiful until you understood its true nature.