'It's Just a Book'

Natalie Shin

Natalie Shin

Age 13-17 Category | Spring into Poetry Contest 2023 | San José Public Library

"It's Just a Book"
A book may seem like just a bundle of papers
A handful of letters sewn together
Words sprayed across pages, laid sporadically
Carelessly becoming sentences & paragraphs

These bundles of paper are escapes for me
Whole worlds and realities I step into from the first page
Picturing myself, there in the moment

These squiggles and letters become people
Friends and secret companions
As if I'm standing right next to them
Can feel them
Are connected to them

These bundles of pages are cocoons
Warm blankets that wrap me in letters of comfort
Stories of heroism, horror, and heartbreak
For 2 words, two fleeting phrases
Can make me laugh in joy or sob in silence

Even after I close the cover
I feel it still lingering
As if the portal has closed
And I am left standing
Dealing with the aftermath

They are a pair of glasses
Picturing my world in a narrative
Thinking of every burden and hurdle I meet
As a plot point
Each one there for me to rise above it
And continue on, stronger

They are my habitat, my home
Secret worlds I discover under a blanket and flashlight
And now another portal awaits me
Another story
To make mine.
 
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