resistance

Reading,

Allowing the surroundings to settle as they will.

Reading,

I used to fly over the tablelands of an open book, grasping only landmarks, ignoring what I did not comprehend, hungry for simple happiness.

Reading,

Academia said stop.start.stop.start.make notes.ask questions.
But with no innate curiosity about the subject beyond its obvious landmarks, where was the joy?

Reading,

for pleasure.

Now, researching something of interest:
not stopping out of duty,
but because I can't read another sentence without knowing more.  Words, not new to me, yet in three decades I never learned the meaning; descriptions of artifacts and places and geographies: I will not go on without looking up so many unknowns!  On this occasion I am immensely grateful for the internet at my fingertips.

Reading,

with instant coffee, cloudy and stale.
Leaves outside wait for me to come to a good stopping place.
I vacuum autumn out of the recently shampooed carpet.
Like the tired people in my reading, I seem always to be waiting for something...

Reading, at least, purposeful.
With big eyes, along the edge of a chessboard.

Reading,
once for what I knew,
now for what I don't.