Oh, I didn't want it to end, you got it so right. An instant favorite. Thanks for asking me to read it, I can't believe I missed it before. Shame Meadow, for letting this go under your radar.

REALLY amazing.

I absolutely love this. I read and favourited it ages ago but never reviewed it.

It's so meaningful and well written. Your poems are amazing x

Your writing style is unique and fantastic! Another of your poems that I love :-D

man that was good. at the end i was saying to myself, thats it? i want it to continue, i dont want it to end, its just too beautiful.(which is a bit ironic). its a masterpiece i tell ya, a masterpiece. better than what i write, thats for sure.

It was pure awesomeness.

Great job.

-Darkshadow

What a beautiful poem. And sad as well. I especially liked the lines

"If you close your eyes, just for a second, you can pretend it's real; / Pretend it's not your life you're coming back to,"

and

"Every second that ticks is yours, passing you by / You know you can't keep going there to escape"

Whoaaaaa

The smell itself is an anchor

A reminder, that the world ends when the pages are shut.

Paper pages and shaking hands

Because that's all life is in the end, a story

All amazing lines.

I love the sensory details in this, and simply way you say things. This poem is relate-able, and ironic, and true. Greatness.

A tale of life that teaches how in the end, no matter how much you fought, worked against your demons, the terrible pieces of life it's not much left but a story

omigosh... this is just AMAZING, AC. You describe the escape, the other-world, so well and the way you write it all, it is just so straight-to-the-heart! You write this so brilliantly, it's piercing and it completely brings the truth home. I love how you've got the true world and storyworld balanced so well, taking it in turns to describe each like the opening and closing of a book... this is just fantastic. You're so talented.

That was just amazing! When I was little I use to think that when I closed a book the story would continue that they'd have new adventures I couldn't read but only imagine! You put what I daydreamed about as a child into words! And beautiful words I might add! It was superb poem and I loved every word of it :-)

Great poem, I can totally relate to this :-) Nice imagery as well

"... that the world ends when the pages are shut; that the characters on the pages were never alive." ... so true 3

A few grammatical things ("or nor" in the line before the last) but that's minor, and I'm probably only noticing 'cause I'm a grammar freak... as long as it isn't for commas.

I like the conclusion - "that's all life is in the end, a story". Not sure if I can relate to that, but it's a pretty idea

Beautiful work, once more! Keep writing :-)

I really liked this poem, and I think thats its something everyone here on fictionpress can relate too

i mean wow... thats the irony in it I guess, I can totally put myself in the place of the narrator and when it ends, its double the experience... I dont know if that made any sense so sorry if not.

Anyway, the rhythm is pretty good here, and another thing popped up into my head when I read the poem is that puncuation kinda dictataes rhythm too, if that helps for the fututre

Finally, there were a few awkward lines that I stumbled over becauses of (what I percieve to be) prepositional/adjective(a,an the, its) errors (all gramatical)

Keep Writing! This is really good. :D

I love this. And considering that normally free-verse poetry gets on my nerves, I can't give you a better compliment! I love the imagery that this creates in my head. Your word choice is awesome as well. R&R some of my stuff if you have the time :) Well done once again :)