diff --git a/light9/rdfdb/currentstategraphapi.py b/light9/rdfdb/currentstategraphapi.py
--- a/light9/rdfdb/currentstategraphapi.py
+++ b/light9/rdfdb/currentstategraphapi.py
@@ -3,6 +3,18 @@ from rdflib import ConjunctiveGraph
 from light9.rdfdb.rdflibpatch import contextsForStatement as rp_contextsForStatement
 log = logging.getLogger("currentstate")
 
+class ReadOnlyConjunctiveGraph(object):
+    """similar to rdflib's ReadOnlyGraphAggregate but takes one CJ in, instead
+    of a bunch of Graphs"""
+    def __init__(self, graph):
+        self.graph = graph
+
+    def __getattr__(self, attr):
+        if attr in ['subjects', 'value', 'objects', 'triples']: # not complete
+            return getattr(self.graph, attr)
+        raise TypeError("can't access %r of read-only graph" % attr)
+
+
 class CurrentStateGraphApi(object):
     """
     mixin for SyncedGraph, separated here because these methods work together
@@ -25,13 +37,16 @@ class CurrentStateGraphApi(object):
                 # done. Typical usage will do some reads on this graph
                 # before moving on to writes.
 
-                t1 = time.time()
-                g = ConjunctiveGraph()
-                for s,p,o,c in self._graph.quads(tripleFilter):
-                    g.store.add((s,p,o), c)
+                if 1:
+                    g = ReadOnlyConjunctiveGraph(self._graph)
+                else:
+                    t1 = time.time()
+                    g = ConjunctiveGraph()
+                    for s,p,o,c in self._graph.quads(tripleFilter):
+                        g.store.add((s,p,o), c)
 
-                if tripleFilter == (None, None, None):
-                    self2.logThisCopy(g, time.time() - t1)
+                    if tripleFilter == (None, None, None):
+                        self2.logThisCopy(g, time.time() - t1)
                     
                 g.contextsForStatement = lambda t: contextsForStatementNoWildcards(g, t)
                 return g