Loneliness comes
to Hannah
like the birds who dress
Snow White's hair,
fluttering, flattering,
and obscene.

those feathery pages
flippantly turning, covered
in purple ink
have the funny habit
of crushing
too-sweet-songs
in ancient
dulled and iron tongues.

Even leaving little purple
hearts in the margins
for my daughters
to find when these pages yellow
doesn't lift
that scrutiny, that truth:
Reading is not another form
of Living.