"Quit falling out and in of love with friends"

I <3 national poetry month more than many people. Possibly, for the excuse it gives me to gleefully spam everyone with poems.




Dear Stupid

elegy for myself

You’ve been seeking
advice in trees again.
Cut your hair short,
call it a day. Quit

falling out and in
of love with friends,
their scratch and sniff
tattoos. Idiot girl.

At home, the dog
waits by an empty dish.

Fridays you tunnel
in bed, think of exes
who are married—
and worse—fat.

On your wrist
is a new bird.
You will turn
into your mother.

You friends will say

She was beautiful,
she was an anarchist
and There is neither
rock nor roll
anywhere in Kalamazoo.

Bourbons, marathons,
little yellow pills:
you tried them all.
Dear, stupid girl.
Nothing can save you.

Except this:
go back to that tree.

This time listen
when it tells you
Don’t worry so much.
Another sixty years,
we’ll both be dead.

~Christina Olson