Poetry Place Online  
 



Poetry Place : Poems : Life
An Afternoon in the Stacks

An Afternoon in the Stacks

Closing the book, I find I have left my head
inside. It is dark in here, but the chapters open
their beautiful spaces and give a rustling sound,
words adjusting themselves to their meaning.
Long passages open at successive pages. An echo,
continuous from the title onward, hums
behind me. From in here, the world looms,
a jungle redeemed by these linked sentences
carved out when an author traveled and a reader
kept the way open. When this book ends
I will pull it inside-out like a sock
and throw it back in the library. But the rumor
of it will haunt all that follows in my life.
A candleflame in Tibet leans when I move.

William Stafford

Book of Interest:
Even in Quiet Places : Poems by William Stafford




Poems - Books - Postcards - Submit - Links

webmaster@poem.freeservers.com

 

PoemsBooksCardsSubmitLinks

 

 
Poetry Place Online