COME IN FROM THE RAIN

the problem with reading was I had it backwards ... I thought how can I use this book ... the idea is you don't use a book ... you hope the book will use you ... the standard is the book ... the one who measures up to it is you ... in the morning when your head is nodding on the subway into work ... in the evening flat on your back in bed you give up and let the book fall ... it falls ... you fail ... first you must stay awake ... when the cat taps your knee or the boy begins to practice ... the tv blares or the neighbor shouts ... you fail ... the least now is the worst ... you fail to pay attention ... and when your faith fails when you think the price you must pay isn't worth the admission you are outside the house by a window looking in ... and whatever it is in the book you cannot just now read is in the house moving talking and there for a page or two making more sense than you ... chapter and chapter wiser and kinder ... what a time that was when the book let you in