post-inauguration poem by Shy Watson

it is a saturday night
i am at a strip mall dunkin donuts
in south philadelphia
in my pajamas i am
Irrationally Mad
about the dumb things
& not angry enough
about the right things
& i can’t drink

because i took hydroxyzine
& i just feel like throwing myself
into dangerous situations
into the tracks of the el
like i want to destroy myself
like i want to walk down
to the schuylkill alone
without anyone around
i would jump in
because i would be angry at them
and they don’t deserve that

i also want to worship
all of my friends
who are doing the Good Shit right now

i want to kneel on my bruised up, slutty knees
& touch the tiles
with my shitty, filthy hands

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About the author:

shy watson is a poet & painter living in philadelphia, pa. she has two chapbooks, AWAY STATUS & my parents were going to give me your name if i was born a boy (Bottlecap Press 2016, 2017). she is the poetry editor for fields magazine, and she tweets at @sadsects.