she sat there
surrounded by books
actually she sat
surrounded by the thoughts
and ideas of others
that's when she realized
that everything she read
she simply translated
into her own reality
agreeing
or disagreeing
as things were sifting
through her personal library
of experiences
and conditioning
it's true
she thought
no one ever does read
the same book
we can't
we simply have a silent
conversation
with the author
and what we get out of it
is based on who WE are
so
while we are reading
another person's thoughts
we are automatically
interrupting what we read
and turning it into
our own personal
one-of-a-kind
language
that no one else
can ever truly
understand

Photo:  Ally Griffin
Unsplash