why i bother showing up

 

poem by Sarah O’Brien

Because you pass a note in class,
but it’s actually an Ashbery poem
insisting I come to the city of roses.

When I’d pictured you (yes, I pictured you
and me with you), it was dead-on:
you wear the expected eyes of exhaustion,

but—since I show up—I get other eyes, too:
wide-wondering and let’s-sneak-out-early
and accidentally-said-something-true...

Because I also earn a grin or two.
And for your laugh (your laugh!),
always surprised to hear itself.

 

Sarah O'Brien is a word witch who ran away from home only to return. Sarah is also a teacher, poet (MFA from the University of Nebraska), book editor, and painter. She is the Founder and EIC of Boston Accent Lit and author of the poetry book Shapeshifter. Learn more at www.sarahobrien.org and follow her @fluent_Saracasm. 

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