i kept all my art supplies
from college,
back when i had a lot more energy
from energy drinks and cigarettes,
to fuel 2am sessions of drawing and painting
for hours at a time
because some sort of inspiration came on,
and it never seemed to matter
that i did not have any artistic talent,
that my figures and scenes were hackneyed or distorted,
or that my color scheme was haphazard,
none of it mattered,
because it was college
and i liked drawing,
but now i no longer do it
because it never feels like i have time
and i definitely don’t have talent,
so all my art supplies sit in the corner of my home office
and mock me from their vantage point
Fred Aiken Writing 