I started out like you

only vowels and consonants
in an unruly chaos
I was a spirit crying out
only for love

I began slowly, adding
vocabulary, one word at a time
didn’t particularly
like reading
my spelling was teriible

One day I noticed
my bones were words
then it occurred to me
my heart was made
up of chambers

and in those chambers
laid books and letters
soon everything clung
to a frame of language

even the chair I sat upon
had four words
holding it up

I held so many letters,
words spilled out
I stood helpless

Sentences held me tight
zzzz’s kissed me goodnight

I was a body
of knowledge
some found in books
some found on the street

yet
no one could read me

– September 29, 2001 | alameda