The People Who Love The Stories Will Go On Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

the people who love the stories will go on

leaving the room when it comes time for explanations,

amendations, noveau interpretations


critiques on every grid.

all they want to do is lift the lid

so the jack in the box can play


and they do so anyway

even if they are called illiterate.

how lucky they are


to follow their own star

and to read the way they want to

as if the world kept on being in picture book form.


don't raise the alarms for them

not even when they skip the lecture tours in the great museums

and head straight for the paintings


or analyze them

as to why they are doing what they are doing


they can hear the music as well as you

with your PhD or two,

even if it's Beethoven


there's nothing you can do for them

when all is said and not done

they read because they want to


till Kingdom come.


mary angela douglas 8 march 2020