I am reading

By the time I was 10,
I had read so much
that the black in my eyes became susceptible
that I could see tenebrous words
in happily ever after stories.
I am now nocturnal for books,
texts, women, everything that can be read–
so many blisters, scars, and welts,
for every book deadline, I did not meet.
My mother is a teacher,
She wields her rod in a way
that can pass as proof for murder.
I was homeschooled by her,
I read so much for a 10-year-old
I read too much for a 10-year-old,
Now there are too many women chasing me
I am reading still.

Younglan Talyoung