I read books

Devour them

I don’t worry about whether

Their messages might get me

Arrested

I’m not worried about going

To jail for my books

Because I know I can read them

They’re here in my library

But I know also

That sometimes

These books I read

Were banned

By people who were too afraid

Of the power

And truth

Which stirred in these books

So these books

Were banned

By people who knew

That words have power

And that books

Hold that power

In their brittle pages

So when I read these books

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harry Potter

The Diary of a Young Girl

The Giver

I’ll remember

These books I’m reading

Holding

Setting on my bookshelves

Checking out from the library

These books were banned