hard lines and distinctive strokes
hide as much as they expose

stand back to see the whole picture

i miss reading and the enjoyment that stemmed from seeing the world through other people's words
the library used to be my favorite place and books were my sole escape but lately i can't bring myself to read
it's as if all those years never lifting my nose from a book is catching up with me and i don't know how to slow down and fix it

i have a list of books i would like to read or that other people would like me to read
and i feel guilty everytime i look at it
it'd be great if i read something off it but im scared it won't feel the same as it did when I needed an escape from reality
feels stulid when i say it out loud but when i was a kid i needed books and the worlds they provided
and now not so much

it's not like the love i had for literature has just disappeared i know it's still there
it's just stored away for a rainy day when my brain again fails to process the fast paced world around me and reality again becomes suffocating

until then I'll try to write my own stories onto blue lines and blank screens and hope that's enough to keep myself from falling into dark times
I'll write stories real and fake to remind myself it's okay to take up space and live in the real world

Seconds, minutes, and hours tick by
Huddled within walls as the time flies
Some of us knit, or sing, or write
Others watch movies to get through the night

If you're searching for me, rush to the nook
You will find me there, on my lap rests a book
Who is counting the days, has it been three or four?
And now many must pass, until the virus is no more

At home is best, think of the others
I tell myself from under the covers
One book read, turned to five then six
Thrillers, romance, and sifi in the mix

And here I sit watching everything unwind
Why has the world turned it's back on being kind
Take a deep breath these hard times too will pass
Lock yourself in a room and enjoy a book while it lasts

Time is non existant
The world around me shuts down
I transfer myself wholeheartedly
Into a fantastical adventure
For I am no longer myself
I am the protagonist
Sleep, I need not
But answers, well..
Answers I need to live

As his words crawled into my eyes
Dripped down my throat
They landed on my heart
and that's where they stay
Poetry like his
so raw so true
opened my soul
and it was there
on those pages
we shared a bond
His words forever
captured right here
in my heart
His words
© Jennifer L DeLong 11/08/2020

I write to feel
I read to breathe
I look at you for inspiration
The stars in your eyes
The gleam in your smile
The love in your heart

I write to feel
I read to breathe
You are my inspiration

I want to write
to feel all right.
I want to bare my soul.
But I fear I bared it all
a long, long time ago.

I want to write
to feel all right--
to not bear it all alone.
But I am crushed by all I've borne;
There's no more of me to know.

Every time I turn a page, I expect more
The words fill my brain with pleasure and satisfaction
I can see inside the characters
I can feel what they feel
It’s like an attachment
I don’t want to leave this place
I turn another page
My favorite character dies
It’s sad, but exciting
Then the book ends
And I reach for another
I do it to escape reality
Just for a moment