As If With A Bit

As if with a bit thrust into my mouth,
as if with a bit lodged deep in my mind,
a story takes me wherever it wants,
not rider but horse, not rider but horse

A story dissolves me and resolves me
into what I’m not by an alchemy
that discovers no philosopher’s stone
but instead finds a stoned philosopher

There is no way back, there is no way back,
a story is a chronic infection,
a story is a cosmic infection,
there’s no cure for its ravishing allure

Day after day I’m the story I tell
Myself, bit after bit, silver and gold