Library of Paintings

i crouch within the stories
of those that lived and those that
didn’t.

each an escape to a reality, 
whether famous or untold
whether a figment of imagination,
or a retelling of the truth.

the poetry in neatly-arranged lines,
rhyme scheme, meter, iambic pentameter;
dystopias of foreign, apocalyptic worlds
Atwood, Huxley, Orwell;
and romance, the love that blossomed
between two people, real or not, dead or alive
it truly is:
life on paper.

the character is a canvas to which
the author’s emotions are expressed
in freed brushstrokes.