WHAT THE LIBRARIAN TOLD THE THIRD GRADERS*

When you read a good book
like the one I finished yesterday
time evaporates so there are
no yesterdays to mourn
no tomorrows to dread

or maybe time liquidizes
and you slip through years
decades even centuries like
a sleek trout through
the riffles of Falling Spring

so come on over here
to the shelves and pick out
something that will take
you to places you've never been
and times you've never lived in

You have five minutes


*[Published in the current issue of FRIENDS JOURNAL]