Escape

My first escape
was at
the Charlestown
Public Library
where the
tools
I'd assembled,
vowels and consonants,
sounded out,
 - became.

I reveled in
the magic
of the words,
in the keys that
every dictionary
slipped to me
with a nod,
and a wink.

I escaped
over and over,
learning 
new lessons,
trying out
different
lives,
wishing
sometimes that I
could
stay forever
in the old
and forgotten
books
that smelled
of leather
or had gold edges.

In stacks, on
stairwells,
of second hand stores
from one coast
to City Lights
on the other coast;
in every country
I have visited,
I find
my escapes - 
eagerly leaping
in, feet first.