Sit next to a child learning to read.
Hear the stumbles,
the slow sounding of a word,
the long, puzzled pauses.
Enter into the problem.
See some of the words and make their sounds.
See others and feel a cold blank.
Have the breathless need to read a whole page.
And the anxious fear of the long word
glimpsed at the end of the line.
Join in the child's struggle.
Lean in closer.
Forget who you are
and what you know.
Say the word so softly
the sound becomes the child's own.