I Am Words

I am words

You can find me squeezed between semicolons and commas

In the margins and in the indentations

Because every book that I have had the pleasure of acquainting myself with

Has violated my mind

                               body

                                   and soul

in the most exquisite way possible.

I’m climbing

Up

Up

And up

And I feel like I can no longer breathe

The inked words written upon this battered tree bark

Have utterly ripped me apart

And stuffed me full of previously unknown emotions

Then stitched me up with threads made of wisdom

That are more permanent than any inked tattoos someone could etch into my skin

                                                  And I feel so high

But this drug is lethal

More so than the crystals my next door neighbors fiends for

Or the caramel liquid my father drinks as a substitute for every meal

Oh yes these words are lethal indeed

Because this high will never leave

And I don’t want it too.

I am words.

Words that were written with the mere intent of entertainment

But entertainment is not what has been thrust into my overwhelmed body

No

I have been gifted with a thousands lifetimes,

a thousand lifetimes of sorrow and love

Of sorrow and love that will never

                                                  ever leave me

Because even though I have grieved the ending of these 500 page lifetimes

I know that unlike my own ordinary life

I can easily pick up that lifetime from my bookshelf and relive it

As many times as my wisdom stitched heart desires.

I am words

And I always will be

Whether I like it or not.