Thursday, October 13, 2011

Poetry Thursday

Bookmobile


I spend part of my childhood waiting
for the Sterns County Bookmobile.
When it comes to town, it makes a
U-turn in front of the grade school and
glides into its place under the elms.

It is a natural wonder of late
afternoon. I try to imagine Dante,
William Faulkner, and Emily Dickinson
traveling down a double lane highway
together, country-western on the radio.

Even when it arrives, I have to wait.
The librarian is busy, getting out
the inky pad and the lined cards.
I pace back and forth in the line,
hungry for the fresh bread of the page,

because I need something that will tell me
what I am; I want to catch a book,
clear as a one-way ticket, to Paris,
to London, to anywhere.

"Bookmobile" by Joyce Sutphen, from Coming Back to the Body.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Do you remember our bookmobile!?

It was fun...but the guy driving it was a little on the creepy side ...

I always wondered how he kept the books on the shelf while navigating the highway...the wonder of it all..?