An Experience Never Put into Words

Experience is not a mass,
Not a substance, and words are not

Containers. You try to evoke
By striking echoes of others’

Experiences, memories,
New experiences in their heads

Made of their own ghosts tied to words.
Ideas come along for the ride,

And that’s the greater mystery.
In the echoing ghost houses

Of memories tangled in words,
The separate skulls, dark inside,

Something unintended transfers,
Half living, along for the ride.