Standing in the Snow

      Standing in the snow

Nothing read on a screen can

Be considered anything like

A book, he said with a tenacious

Grip on certainty. A book is

A book is a book; it has pages

And it has a spine, he grumbled.

Books use words, of course,

Not pixels. To hold a book,

He said, just feels good.

Why do you suppose people

Created screens? I asked.

He was wearing sandals

Standing in the snow at

Hadrian's Wall, the pride

Of Rome and the civilized

World. He looked at me with

Imperious eyes and grunted:

They didn't do it for me.