when i can’t sleep at night
i eat black wine gums
& pretend i’m a baby bird.

you tell me we got smarter
when we started cooking
our meat.

i wish i wasn’t
such a raw thing.

i make up rules for myself
& then i break them.
i promise i will drink less

& walk more & call my mom.
i promise i’ll stop living
so much inside my head.

if i wasn’t so tired,
i think i could sleep.

 

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helga wants everyone to have a good day every day. they’re the author of MELODRAMA (ghost city press 2018) & their work can be found in peach magazine, spy kids review, tenderness lit, & elsewhere. they tweet @helgafloros