rereading

i’ve started rereading instead of finishing new things.

nobody talks about this. there’s a small shame in it,
like you should be moving through the list.

but a book you read at seventeen and a book you read now
are not the same book.
the words haven’t moved. you have.
you are the variable.

reading a book twice is the only reliable way
i’ve found to measure what a few years did to me.
the page doesn’t change, so whatever changed
was me, and i can finally see the size of it.