Have Book – Will Travel

Feeling bored? Feel like you need
To take a trip somewhere?
Here’s a tip that doesn’t call
For flying through the air

Crack open a book and lose
Yourself within its pages
Many different worlds have been
Constructed through the ages

Oh, I know, you’re one of those
Who doesn’t like to read
Your lack of patience and craving
For TV does impede

But how often can you tell me
You’ve been completely drawn
Into all those TV shows
That only seem to spawn

Commercials for all the things
On which you’re pushed to spend?
Not to mention plot lines that
Don’t ever seem to end

And how easy is it to be
Transported elsewhere if
You’re in a movie theatre
And all you hear is sniff

And coughing, chatting, rustling
And chomping of popcorn?
All of these distractions leaving
You just feeling worn

Grab a book and crack it open
Sit down and breathe deep
Yes, I know the first few pages
Always seem so steep

But just like with anything else
If you can get momentum
You’ll be amazed at what that boring
Book will soon become

Despite not having flashing lights
Or any blaring tunes
Soon you’ll realize the best
Way to spend afternoons

Is not sitting in front of your
TV with mouth agape
Far off look in your eyes while
You’re hoping for escape

Only in the pages of
A good book will you be
Whisked away to other places
That you’d never see

Because the pages call you to
Be creative as well
To picture people and places
Imagine and foretell

It’s true when they say “less is more”
And most would not dispute
When a movie’s adapted
It isn’t as astute

As the book it was based on
Because they’ve taken out
All of our imagination
And put in throughout

Blaring sounds and S-F-X
And other baby food
Meant to spoon feed our senses
And keep all our eyes glued

Grab your remote and turn off
The lights and all the noise
Settle down with a good book
And the tale it deploys

Let your own imagination
Take you for a ride
Let the prose be your path and
Let author be your guide

Use those brain cells, interact
With stories you take in
Don’t just sit and vegetate
Because that does wear thin

Eventually you’ll feel boxed in
Because you’ve seen it all
Never having any say
Because of that fourth wall

But with a book you’re in control
Of what you hear and see
Not just shackled to the couch
But far away and free

The reason most enjoy the book
More than the movie is
Because the reader has more say
With books than with show biz

The reader can decide how someone
Would say certain lines
The reader is responsible
For clothes and set designs

The reader is empowered and
That’s why we all get lost
In the pages of the novel
And why they exhaust

Because we all participate
In the tale being told
Invested in the characters
As the myth does unfold

So turn off your TV and grab
A good old fashioned book
Or load one on your iPad, Kindle
Computer or Nook

And have a safe journey to where
The story will take you
Bon voyage, auf wiedersehen
Aloha, ciao, adieu

                       Miro