In my head
A picture grows,
Coming to life
As figures dance
And swirl,
Creating a movie
In my mind.
The words on the page
Take on a meaning.
No longer scribbles,
Or lines,
Or marks.
They come together
Telling a story
All their own.
Quotations and dialogue
Become voices;
Shouting, yelling, laughing.

No longer I sit-
Bored out of my mind-
In a class which holds
Zero interest to me.
No longer I read-
Making words into pictures-
Redirecting my attention.
No longer do I have to imagine,
A world, a land, a ship;
The characters are alive.
No longer do I sit here.
I am now
A character in my story.

My favorite characters
Now my best friends.
Their enemies
Are now mine.
Fighting side-by-side,
Journeying across
Unknown lands.
I'm part of the book;
I'm sailing the seas
And trekking
Through mountains.

A voice,
A distraction,
Snaps me back,
Back to reality.
Scenes revert back,
Back to images
Still and unmoving.
Words on the page
Returning to squiggles,
Unreadable marks.

The magic of the story,
Of the book,
Disintegrates.
No longer
Holding me under it's spell.
Capturing that which was lost,
Will not be easy
But won't take as long
To become immersed,
Once more,
Into the magical world,
Of reading.