(Book) Skywalker
(Book) Skywalker
Overcast.
Still, there’s sky in the air,
and, light on the blacktop
of this country road,
I say that what I’d like to be
is a person who walks all day.
Preferably holding a book, I add
with unusual frankness, to you
for whom the world outside
is usually enough–
And you, who knows what I do
when alone, especially in the City when not
in the fold of you–how I follow an arrow of page
through lines of print and people, cross blocks
of blocks, that is,
how I read, walking,
grow serious, saying,
you better watch out down there,
you’ll make yourself a target–
not understanding the cover
of cover,
the shield of
one’s own corner, carried,
how those there, yet not there,
(like the sky in this grey day’s air),
(I’m talking about characters) serve
as my personal pages,
while the page itself makes
my weather–
and how can anyone who holds
a small separate sky
in their hands, be harmed, I want to protest.
But don’t.
Don’t even tell you how surprisingly well
my feet read the street
with my other soles–
Because I must confess, thinking it through,
that wheeled fenders seem
extraordinarily insensitive
to sky,
so vow silently to look both ways
on those read streets,
and also, you know,
up–
**********************************
A rather odd poem for multi-taskers or escape artists (like myself). I am talking here about reading a real book, not phone, which I have done for many many years. I am posting for the With Real Toads prompt of Ella about things you’ll never grow out of.
Tags: how I pass my streets poem, http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com, lonely in the City poem, manicddaily, reading while walking poem, rhymes with Luke Skywalker
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ManicDDaily 
July 9, 2015 at 9:08 pm
I love the whole idea of holding one’s own separate sky……..but do be careful at the intersections. Cars dont even bother LOOKING for people! I loved the tone of this poem, especially its closing lines – “especially, you know, up – ” Keep looking up, my friend.
July 9, 2015 at 9:17 pm
Thanks, Sherry. k.
July 9, 2015 at 9:08 pm
I usually carry a book with me. Never know where you might get stuck. Not sure I could walk the streets with a book though. I would surely get hit. And when walking there are so many people to take in, so many stories to taste. Ha.
July 9, 2015 at 9:13 pm
You are right, and yet I often do it; I think in New York I just can’t take so much stimulation sometime–you know–it’s fairly intense. Hope all with you, dear. k.
July 9, 2015 at 9:17 pm
PS – I do worry about cars–I am really a bit out of it. k.
July 9, 2015 at 9:37 pm
The feel of a leather bound book in one’s hand is truly something we can never out-grow 🙂 Beautifully executed!
Lots of love,
Sanaa
July 9, 2015 at 10:31 pm
Smiling as I read you weaving your way through the world-word by word~ I have done this, too. I love your poem and the name and all of its cleverness gives me so, much joy~
July 10, 2015 at 6:11 am
Oh.. nowadays I always have a book in the form of my mobile.. but reading while I walk sounds way to dangerous to me (though I have checked in facebook while walking).
July 10, 2015 at 6:42 am
I have never read a book in any other form (such as an e-reader). Of course I am an incurable bibliophile but I find I have so little time to read, and I find it difficult to find authors I’d give the time to.
July 10, 2015 at 6:43 am
There is nothing quite like the pages of a book….. I do read on the iPad and I listen to audiobooks but paper books are a treasure.
July 10, 2015 at 10:10 am
This speaks straight to my soul, Karin!
July 10, 2015 at 10:11 am
Heading for The Big Apple next month .. Leaving reading material behind in Bend! Great write, Karin!
July 10, 2015 at 11:43 am
We all have our screens, physical or not so, to keep the noise and the eye contact out–if I were in NYC I’d have to wear a yashmak, most likely. This has a walking lilt to it, a feel of being outside, even when focused on something complex, self-contained and far removed–I esp. liked ‘… how can anyone who holds/ a small separate sky/ in their hands, be harmed…’ but agree that like so many of our shields and barriers, even sky can be illusory. Beautiful poem, and totally you, k.
July 10, 2015 at 5:16 pm
Ha. Thanks. k.
July 10, 2015 at 5:42 pm
“”not understanding the cover
of cover,
the shield of
one’s own corner”
Totally resonates with me!
July 19, 2015 at 9:52 pm
I am trying to read again, after being the bookworm growing up ~
July 23, 2015 at 4:22 pm
I enjoyed this thoroughly….my oldest son used to read while walking…constantly….and we were always telling him to watch out for things so this was such a delightful read for me. Love the lines “how I follow an arrow of page
through lines of print and people, cross blocks
of blocks, that is,
how I read, walking,”
July 23, 2015 at 5:03 pm
Thanks so much, CC.
K.
On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 5:22 PM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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