Write Myself

[RiverNotch]

If I could write myself into a book
I would do it in a heartbeat You could compress.
I'd blanket my cardboard cover in blue thread
And place myself on newly clean shelves You are one book. Why in shelves, not a shelf?

Let me escape into fantastical worlds
Where lions talk and witches are slain
Where cats appear one stripe at a time
Where I could have a happy ending You know, some people achieve this by taking a pistol.... but generally, the joy of life is understood to be its endlessness. That is why the "happily ever after" is cherished, not merely the "happy ending".

If I could abandon this world
For a life on a shelf
In libraries, bookstores
Bookshelves in homes Redundant stanza.

I'd write myself into clean, white pages
Black ink telling the world of me The "world of you" is not the same as a "fantastical world", unless the speaker is already in a book.
The Sans-serif font describing my world Sans-serif? For print?
Wrapped in a jacket of flimsy cardstock The second time you cover yourself, first in cardboard, now in cardstock. Again, redundant.

Slap a price tag on my back You know, some people sell themselves by putting on too much makeup....
Hold me together with glue
Put a nice title on my spine It would be far more interesting if, in lieu of "nice ---", was an actual title.
And my name of course

I am the author, after all 
Reducing myself to words on a page First two lines need expounding, and require trimming of the poem's very top. The idea of assuming total control and the idea of reducing life's complexities into pure language is very different from the ideas of being allowed escape and of fantasy worlds (just because something is weird and fantastical, does not mean it's not complex -- aside from the general weirdness of real life, my favorite example of this is Adventure Time)
Or on a screen, for some
And even in an audio file Last two lines are filler.

To write myself into a book
And leave this cruel world behind Again, redundant. We very much understand that you want this, that all of this would be a gift.
Would be a gift, really
To control my world Again, redundant, and without development. To be the author of one's life is the same as to be the controller of one's world.

I could save those I've lost
Prevent loved ones' pain Bland. And the build up is too unspecific enough to rectify this, I think. And somehow, the thought of wanting to get the power to change fate, to remove past losses and prevent past pains, has become cliche for me. Or at least it's your mode of presentation. So again, bland.
Erase my insecurities
And illustrate my days 

I escape into others' worlds
Devouring them with my eyes
But to create one, and be in it
That would be absolutely perfect Again, redundant. We already know you want this, that all of this would be perfect to you. Show us how -- show us why (as in, what exactly is making you recoil from the world?) -- and show us with vividness. And I think, too, with meter, if you can do it, since the piece feels like something that demands it.