Escape Hatch

When I was young
in that too crowded world
of tricks and traps and sudden slaps come hard
out of a blue and ordinary sky
I always had somewhere to hide
where I could feel myself dissolve and fade
between the pages of a book –
a magic no one could take away
a world untouched and uninvaded
where no one followed me or waited
just around the corner
to catch me as I passed.

It wasn’t all rainbows and honey
but those paper ogres were not much
next to the ones I knew so well
just an hour or a room away
waiting
with their greedy needs
and grasping hands
so much bigger than my own.