Flipping Through

Writing your name can lead to writing sentences. And the next thing you'll be doing is writing paragraphs, and then books. And then you'll be in as much trouble as I am! - Thoreau

In a fairytale gone bad, I'm stuck in the prologue of a turgid, indigestable biography.

A capricious c**k-and-bull story.

Its parenthetical paragraphs lingering in my lozenged throat like the final morsels of mortality.

Reluctantly, I wet the fingers of my heart to turn a new chapter.

I squint but the italicized font eludes me.

Feigning cognizance as my spirit floats above a twisted dimension in the margins.

Somewhere between the perfumed innocence of youth and the guilty guile of age.

I try to cling to the hubris of humanity but the punked-out personification of my tale remains stubbornly crass.

Read under the covers by the moon's flashlight.

The transcendent story is bound by grace and worn leather.

My life is an open book but alas ...

... the pages are all stuck together ...

Author's Note

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting." - Thoreau