Fred Aiken Writing

when i was in preschool,
a rumor got spread around that if you read for 48 hours straight,
no break, no meals, no sleep,
then your eyes would either
a) pop out of your skull and kids could kick them around like bouncy balls
or b) your eyes would melt, along with the rest of your brain, and you’d be the eyeless, brainless
kid of the 21st century wandering the halls in search for nothing because you could no longer see,
neither of which are reasons why i don’t read enough books now that i’m adult
that can reason that those childhood rumors were just that,
though no matter how many new years resolutions i make,
i can’t seem to read all that much,
so i guess i’ll just pretend that my eyes might evaporate if i read more than a sentence at a time