[at-l] Love Poetry Out Loud

[Nina Rogers]

Yesterday I was working at the bookstore when a new shipment of books came
in. Book shipments are the greatest things in the world. They are a
bookseller's greatest joy. All those new ... books. Untrammeled, untouched,
waiting to be stocked, shelved, browsed, thumbed, bought, and read. Sigh.

So I was looking through everything, figuring out where to shelve it all,
when I came across "Love Poetry Out Loud," by Robert Alden Rubin,
publication date 2007. My jaw dropped and I exclaimed to my co-worker, "Why,
I know that fellow! That's Rhymin' Worm!"

My co-worker, not being a thru-hiker, did not understand my excitement,
though he did think it was cool that I'd met the real, live author. I looked
through the book to find a collection of old and new poems on the subject of
love, including one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems, "Wild Nights! Wild
Nights!"

So today when a little old lady was looking for a book of Emily Dickinson
poems, and I had to tell her we were out of stock, I pointed her to Rhymin'
Worm's book and told her that it included some Emily Dickinson, as well as
other poems. We quoted bits and pieces of our favorite Emily poems as
she looked through the book (which she thought was wonderful). She ended up
buying the book. I just hope she realized that it also included a poem
titled "Taking Off My Clothes." I forgot about that one. Oops!

The book is relatively small, light, and packable, which makes this post
even more trail-related than it already was.

Waterfall