A Life of Words

I live a life of words. This may not come as a surprise to you, because I am a poet. But it surprised me. I began my life as a poet three years ago. But I have been surrounded by words long before that. As a three year old child I read words from books. As a young child I learned to sing words in song. As a youth I read words in study.

I have worked in a library for over a decade. Libraries are such sacred spaces. Libraries are sanctuaries of words. My library has close to 60,000 books in it. Every book, be it a novel, an instructional book, a self-help book, a foreign language manual, every book is filled with words. Every book contains someone’s story. Libraries are cavernous formations of words. Just imagine the vast resources. Everyone has a story to tell.

You might find it appropriate that I work in a library, because I am a poet. You might find it ironic. The irony didn’t occur to me until recently.

I am surrounded by words. I have words in my head all the time; usually the words are lyrics from a favorite song. Or, the words are thoughts which will later morph into poetry that you will read.

I am surrounded by words. I am enveloped in words. They are my constant companions. They are the colors in my palette.

I live a life of words.

“To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.”- Mark Twain

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