Reading is hard

Verse 1 Teacher handed me a book said read it front to back but the letters all wriggled wouldn’t sit on the track in the back of the class trying to fake that grin while the words on the page kept swimming again I wasn’t good at it, reading was war every chapter a mountain, every paragraph a chore teachers like Bowman push a little more said fight through the noise, you’re stronger than before so I learned how to listen when the page wouldn’t stay found my voice in the margins, found another way now I read with my ears, let the rhythm translate turned a war with the words into power I create Pre-Hook took a long time to see it wasn’t lack of grind just a different kind of wiring in my mind while they raced through the lines I was building the frame seeing patterns and meaning while missing the name now the pages don’t scare me, I make them behave turned the struggle with reading into strength that I gave Hook read it slow, let it soak, let the message align every line got a pulse, every word got a spine they said speed is the skill, I said depth is divine I don’t race through the page, I let the page redesign read it low, read it loud, read between what they say found my power in the pause, found my voice in the delay was a war with the words, now the words on my side I don’t just read the lines — I read life when I rhyme Verse 2 used to think I was broken, every scantron a siren answers flying past me, confidence ironed flat by comparison, silence got loud while speed got applauded, I was depth in the crowd wasn’t built for the sprint, I was mapping terrain reading tone in a breath, reading cause in the pain I don’t skim for the gist, I interrogate meaning hear truth in the cadence, catch lies in the breathing labels tried to box me in, neat little squares but I read faces better than paragraphs there read rooms, read moments, read when to speak read pressure in posture, read strength in the weak Bridge they teach one way like the rest don’t exist but the mind’s not a ruler, it’s a prism that twists I learned patience from friction, learned focus from doubt learned some doors open inward when you don’t rush them out Hook (repeat) read it slow, let it soak, let the message align every line got a pulse, every word got a spine they said speed is the skill, I said depth is divine I don’t race through the page, I let the page redesign read it low, read it loud, read between what they say found my power in the pause, found my voice in the delay was a war with the words, now the words on my side I don’t just read the lines — I read life when I rhyme Outro so if the letters still swim, let ’em drift for a bit every mind got a rhythm, gotta live in the fit I ain’t late to the lesson, I arrive when it’s right some of us read the world before we read what’s in sight