“Reading Aloud for his Grandson” by Stephen Page
as published on RiverLit
read poem here:
Reading Aloud for His Grandson
For the seventh time in a row
Jonathan reads aloud a story
in rhyming couplets
for his grandson
who rests his head
on Jonathan’s arm
and sits with his dirty boots
tucked up under his legs
upon Teresa’s white couch.
It is a tale of a fisherman
who stands upon a muddy shore
of a lake in front of his home
and for months has hauled in
nothing but shoes and key rings
and buckets and bottles.
When he finally lands a fish,
the biggest fish ever caught
from the lake,
and the neighbors cheer,
and the book ends,
Jonathan’s grandson says:
Again.
Again.
