page ten

I struggle with this new book.
this biography.
it's thick
and full of words.
very detailed.
it takes an hour to get
someone across
the room. he ate only
hard boiled eggs.
he wore brown shoes.
death is a relief
for some of these characters
getting them out of the story.
I look at the page
number, then turn to the back.
only three hundred
and seventy-nine more
pages to go.
I flip through the book
looking for pictures.
where are the pictures?
the boy in his youth.
his middle years.
his dog, something, even
a map will do,
something to break up
the monotony of this man's
life that is now part
of mine.