On Reading a Good Book

Here is a poem I wrote after reading the book Good Morning, Miss Dove, by Frances Gray Patton.

On Reading a Good Book

What skill the author has, to write,
Invite, you in his world – a world
Of his own making! What is sight
Or sound compared with words so hurled

At me, that I lose consciousness,
Identity, and see, myself,
What sights he chooses to express,
And sounds he puts upon my shelf?

Ah, wisdom does not let me go
That far: God gave me eyes and ears
For measuring; and yet, although
That use is present, it appears

My mind is more engaged elsewhere.
For story will be measured not,
And fantasy defies compare.
But my imagination it has caught!

- Adrian C. Keister, September 17, 2005.