i need to write an essay
i'd rather write poetry

i'd rather think about the turning
glass organs within my body
that shatter and pierce my innards
as they please and yet the cold
smooth curve of glass against my cheek
gives me relief

i'd rather think about emma lee's poem in which
a person unclothed became clothed and how i lived
what she wondered about and tried to understand if it
was as strange as she thought

i'd rather imagine you in your patriots sweatshirt
on the bench hugging me and telling me that this is what you'd miss
your eyelashes in my ear my cheek awkwardly angled against your shoulder

i'd rather imagine myself lying in this bed a year ago
at a loss for words to describe the first intimate touches of skin

i'd rather just be