Audience Of One....... [volunteer Reading; Little Kids; Personal; Medium Length] Poem by Bri Edwards

Once a month I go to the library
to read to preschoolers.
Books and my voice are my tools,
not pencils and rulers.
Today I was ready to read,
but no children I saw.
Last month there were at least eight,
but......today none at all.

So I searched our small library until,
on his mom's lap, I spied
a little boy who looked at me,
questioning with wide-opened eyes.
They were at the computers and
at first he remained there,
but before long he wandered over near me
and hid......behind a big chair.

I started to read one of the books
I had already brought,
and he soon became the sole member
of the audience I'd sought.
He came out and stood quietly in front of me,
staring as I read,
then off he darted again behind a chair,
just......showing his head.

When I finished one book, he started
to take one from the shelf,
but I encouraged him to choose from those
nearby, which I'd chosen myself.
He picked out one, I read it, then
he picked out another.
After a while, to a nearby table,
along......came his mother.

I would have kept reading …..
past my allotted time,
reading of cats-baking-pies,
and a book full of rhyme,
but my wife was coming soon
to pick me up with the car.
I had fun doing, for One, what,
spelled backwards......is daer.

[make that 'for Two']

(February 28,2014)