Fall 2009, Volume 7

Poetry by Lauren Stone

I'm Sorry Wendy

I know
It’s not fair
It feels like some kind of punishment.
I go through it too.
Just remember someday it will stop.

If it is a punishment
What sadistic bastard came up with it?
You know it’s really not fair.
I mean
Come on.
I feel like a balloon hovering above a volcano
Ready to melt and be destroyed
By the angry red flow.
Five days of this
Why five days?
Who decided on that?
Inconvenient increment of time.
For an entire week
Useless.

Of course it’s never enough that you can justify
Staying in bed
No you just gobble
Pills like candy
Put on the darkest pair of pants you can find.
The loose fitting blouse
And hope that no one notices
The grimace
Every time you are forced to move.

Oh and the stupidity.
It’s like your brain
Has decided to evacuate as well.
Drained of all sentient activity.
You press through the hot lava
And try to go about your day
All the while
Calculating how long it will be
Until you have to excuse yourself
And seek refuge
In the hall of solitude.

The cold metal latch
The porcelain against your skin
You scramble for cotton
And realize
You forgot to buy any at the store
You fumble for coins
And pray that you will make it to the machine
That you have the right change
That they aren’t out as well.
And slowly in the back of your brain
That line appears.
“I’m sorry Wendy, but I just don’t trust anything
            that bleeds for five days and doesn’t die.”

 

BIO: Lauren Stone is a Creative Writing major at Long Beach City College. She has written several screenplays as well as a musical and has had her poetry and short fiction published in anthologies and through online writing competitions. You can find more information on Lauren Stone at www.laurenstone.info.