Check out more of Mira's writing and poetry here.
Wednesdays are for hope and the sky is for crying
Underwater
things look the same
if you close your eyes and use your hands
imagine if your only contact with water
was the birdbath outside
she put it there for you don't break her heart
and say it's not the one you wanted
Home Depot isn’t open at 2 am
but dad’s wood shop is
he asked us not to use his tools
but maybe since it is after hours
there will be things that he will never know.
Can’t count past ten
past ten
enough times to get to one hundred
dream sheep don’t need to eat
but you buy them alfalfa over and over and
over again no matter how many times I tell you
not to go to the feed store
on Tuesdays at 3 when school gets out
just down the street
don’t call in sick it doesn’t matter anymore
no one takes the roll on the corner of lost and
found.
Cross off the things you do
as you do
as you do them so they know they are done
it is for someone else, not for you,
for the archives, they will create from the papers
in your life
from the letters and the tickets and the notes
that were passed under desks and through sweaty hands
ink smeared across a blend of
print and cursive
you have ink from that leaky fountain pen on your hand
your mom will make you wash it off even though you think it looks
artsy.
Hello!
Answer the phone only when you want to
the other end of the line
is always somebody but not always
some body
who are we to animals and dirt when
nature calls
we are the people who invented language
give me their number
I have a complaint;
I can never find the words that I am looking for
and I need to know where they go to hide
when I’m not looking.
Give me your high fives
your sarcastic comments that no one understands
and the pennies in the front pocket of your jeans
I will throw them into a fire
I created from the heat of the moment
I will cast a spell on people who have wronged you
please tell me where to sit
when nothing seems right and
the world is crying
I cannot mend things if I cannot see
the broken parts.
Anger is permissible in bowling alleys
and sometimes in public swimming pools
although be careful of who you are with
because I hear that the rules are different
depending on what your childhood was like
and whether you put ketchup on your fries
there is a right choice but the only way to know
is to try.
Run away
from most things because usually that can work
it is okay
if not everyone you love
is the love of your life
and it is okay
if everyone you love
teaches you something about yourself
write it down
and put it in that drawer
of stuff that doesn’t belong anywhere else.
