art | Fred Aiken Writing

November 11, 2023

rabbit hole//probiotic questions

my mom said she started drinking a probiotic drink
now that she’s approaching her seventies,
and i asked if it was kombucha, because that’s the only probiotic drink i know of,
and at that i’m not even 100% certain that it is probiotic,
which led me down a 4 hour internet rabbit hole
of looking up the difference between probiotic and prebiotic drinks,
and after all that time and energy,
i’ve come out of the other side of that rabbit hole
none the wiser,
which is what i’d like engraved on my tombstone

November 10, 2023

the older i get…

when i gained a lot of weight in my twenties
i started seeing a whole bunch of internet ads
for various diets and pills and other such methods to tap into becoming my one true self, or some such self-help-guru nonsense,
i’m not entirely sure what all they said,
since, despite being overweight, a tad bit unhealthy, i don’t pay super close attention to ads,
i’m not their target audience, whoever they are, and in the grand game of who it is that’s choosing which ads to show me, i don’t think i’m smart enough to figure out that mystery, or maybe not motivated enough? possibly,
but i did join a gym
when i hit my thirties
since/i/assumed/that’s/what/you/do/when/you/get/older/and/start/having/extra/disposable/income/and/time/that/i/can/spend/how/i/like/to/but/why/i/chose/to/spend/that/time/at/the/gym/is/anyone’s/guess/and/i/don’t/think/in/my/34/years/that/anyone/has/called/me/anyone/yet

November 8, 2023

old tea

a conversation by the fireplace
while drinking chamomile tea
bought 4 years prior for just such an occasion,
then pushed back, further back,
into the pantry until it was forgotten,
dust settled haphazardly on each tea bag,
but it washed out all the same,
tasted all the same,
maybe a little malty, but what is a little staleness
among friends sharing tea