I run away by reading

books let me escape
so I can get lost in another plot
another parallel world
so I can actually see others
who have similar problems to my own
so I can remind myself
that other have it worse
so I can avoid my own thoughts
by reading others'

until eventually the parallel world
crosses too closely with my own

and I remember what I worked so hard to forget.

The world is round
no matter where you turn and run off to
you return to start
tired of the sprint
and hopeless of ever getting away.

And yet I pick up another book
and take off from the start
in hopes that by the last page
the finish line
I will have no recollection of my past.