Poem of the Week, by Kaylin Haught

Posted on by alisonmcghee

img_5353Young woman across the street, waving and calling to me as I trudge through the snowdrifts on the way home from my astonishingly wonderful church for the non-churchy, where I go seeking solidarity amongst my equally post-election troubled neighbors and friends: “Mama! Mama!”
Me, calling back: “I’m not your mama!”
YW: “Thank you, mama, come here!”
Me, crossing the street in an Oh, what the hell sort of way: “. . . Yes?”
YW, gesturing to a small car with two enormous rolled rugs sticking out of the trunk and windows): “Please mama, please help.”
Me: “Honey, are you nuts? You’re half my age and twice as solid.”
YW: “Thank you mama, God bless you mama.”
Me, after deciding that the universe has brought me this interesting experience and I might as well roll with it, heaving the first rug out of the trunk/window and dragging it with difficulty and no help across the entryway to her apartment building, then repeating the process with Rug #2, at which point she gestures happily for me to follow her down a hallway with Rug #1: “No way, sister. You’re on your own now.”

YW: “Thank you mama! God bless you mama!”

Whatever the above anecdote –which ended with me heaving both rugs down the hallway, angling them into her apartment, propping them against the wall of her living room and then leaving without unwrapping and arranging them for her, much to her chagrin– has to do with today’s poem of the week, I’m not sure, other than it falls into the categories of Life is interesting and mystifying and Some people have no qualms asking for exactly what they want and My back hurts now and Sometimes I just feel like saying yes.

God Says Yes To Me
– by Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

For more information on Kaylin Haught, please click here.

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