I found it in a book my mother owned

I found it in a book my mother owned.
She wasn’t supposed to be literate,
Grew up poor – school, what? Just something to skip
Not to mention what it was like at home.
But storytelling she was a natural
You might could call it pathological
War & Peace, yes she did read the whole thing
& her bookshelf called to me & my twin.
One book was Edna St. Vincent Millay
We came upon it & were blown away
“If I should learn in some quite casual way”–
We can still say it by heart to this day.
My dad didn’t read, he said he listened
with no idea what he was missing.

09.12.2023