Let’s go window and book-shelf shopping
and see what we’ve really learned.
All of our knowledge and past histories
have been documented within these pages,
And they say you can’t judge a civilization
by its covers.
I suppose it is what lies hidden that really
accounts for progress – between covers and ears,
Nothing more than gray matter,
but everything.
[ I would like for you to read the dictionary to me,
aloud,
from A to Z
aardvark to zymurgy,
so that by the time you reach the pronoun you use
for the one that I call myself,
I will not be surprised by anything you could ever say.
When you say "I think I love you,"
I will not run scared, or if you say
"I'm sorry I can't be with you… it's not you, it's me,"
I will not cry or attempt to find courage in sharp crutches -
performing surgery like I used to,
playing doctor alone in my bedroom.
No, I'll have heard those words,
read from beneath two heavy, dusty covers
and I'll build a callous for every emotion. ]
Sorry, an aside –
a figment from too many fictions.
I’ll think I’ll face things as they come –
take your hand and finish this intellectual shopping spree.
A figment from too many fictions; I appreciate that.