"To Read"

Click the arrow on the audio player to hear Michael McFee read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes.

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He held the opened book
in both hands, at arm's length,

as if he were a student driver
practicing steering this Model ABC
that resisted his touch,
that he could tell he wouldn't know
how to control once it started,

not yet able to ease his grip
or surrender his frown
and learn to let the sentences unwind,
letting their momentum
carry him down the waiting road,

stopping and starting his way
into a world of words.

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