Noncommercial Interruptions
by Winston Derden



I was reading the other day —
I read nearly every day —

when I noticed something peculiar:
books don’t have any commercials.

Even journals and magazines carry advertising,
and television — filled with constant interruption.

Same with radio —
if anyone still listens,

not to mention web pages
where every cursor stroke

seems to scroll up
some new invasion.

Books, you just turn the pages,
go as fast as you want,
take a pee or get a snack

whenever you feel like it,

no paid announcement barging in
to distract your attention
or place constraints
on your bladder.

I guess that’s something
I should have noticed long before.

Perhaps I was distracted
by the pleasures of the text.





Illya's Honey Literary Journal

Copyright © by Dallas Poets Community. First Rights Reserved. All other rights revert to the authors.