Hi Mom, Hi Dad
please, look at me!
i’ve locked myself in a dancing glass box
for your viewing pleasure only.
i.
i hung this box up because i
couldn’t bear to be
hung up
on,
because i’m.
an apostrophe!
s,
a possessive in improper grammar
improperly possessive in the funny way that i lisp my way away to your smile.
and really every time the phone rings?
i don’t know whether to hide together
with you, or to run outside and scream, falling in joy.
ii.
and i’d cry for hours sometimes when you wouldn’t
pick up
, i need a
pick me up,
a drink? why yes, thank you.
i’ll take it like i always have,
always will, though staggering
through staggering i’ll ford
four weeks, spent like recession labor money and i’m
fighting the melatonin or
the serotonin i can’t really tell these days?
i don’t really have anybody
to tell, either because
iii.
it’s been weeks since you first called.
Jaeho Lee
edited: Catherine Kazmer
(cw: substance abuse, addiction, problematic family relationships)