poem I wrote after I told you I was empathetic I go to the CVS on 14th & 8th
and you’ve asked me not to contact you anymore
one time you were having a smoothie like it was 1998
and there was nothing I could do about it
your jawline is so perfect that I cannot stop
telling you to kill me even though you said please stop
asking me to kill you
a leaf just fell outside my window
remember when I tripped on the dance floor
and that guy who always talked about Ibiza
called me a fat whore?
I should have said I’m a leaf
I’m a leaf like I was in a play
like I was in something bigger than my body
I can’t tell if my therapist is cool or just has short bangs
poem I wrote after I tried to write a tweet about sparkling waterI’ve got a disease where I haven’t watched
an entire feature film since the aughts
do you like how I said “aughts”?
you don’t see that every day!
I’ve never been to a sex party
but one time I made fun of this girl
for bringing deviled eggs to an event
and then I ate six of them.
humiliation, satisfaction,
a long walk home in spring.
I love sex and I love before it—
the double vodka soda leg touch
Is it possible to miss everything at once?
poem I wrote after I had the strangest urge to confide in dear friends beneath starlightI just took a pregnancy test to feel alive
and all I got was piss on my hands
I don’t think I’d take my daughter
to get her nails done
if I were a mother
she can do that with her friends
if she wants
I’d like to have kids at 35
so I can start wearing graceful linen sacks
and calling everyone “darling”
I’d like to wear lipstick
and lean on a built-in
bookcase
and tell you I like Helen Frankenthalther
and did you know that’s her painting
on the Renata Adler novel I told you to read
the one I never finished
because I needed to have sex
with someone who lived on
the Upper West Side
can you grab some ice?
I like ice in my wine
Copyright © 2021 by Catherine Cohen. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
