I see myself sitting poolside, my pool boy in his tiny shorts skimming the cool blue water, and I ring a bell for someone to come bring me another iced tea. It’s so Gatsby. Though I am nowhere near the glitz, and nobody knows my name, don’t underestimate me. I’ll publish five books a year and be a millionaire before I’m done with this life.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: poolside, underestimate, and five.

_{Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash}

I’m going to take my name
off the list of the ones waiting
for their person.

I’ve found mine.

The hunt has come to an end,
because this one makes me feel
like a baby bird under a wing, 
like the air we need to breathe.

No wonder he leaves me
breathless and tongue-tied.

When he holds me,
all I want in the world is him.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: list, the hunt, and tongue-tied.

_{Photo by Igor Rodrigues on Unsplash}

I’ve always wanted to see
the skies of Montana, or even
Wyoming, wherever that is;
can I find it on a map?

I’ll check the forecast,
pack up my medicine and
toothbrush and clothes,
and I’ll just fucking go.

Set out on the highway

With “head west” being
the only thing I know,
a road that may or may not
be lonely, and my cat,
she comes, too.

I’m going to die
if I don’t get away from you.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: Wyoming, forecast, and medicine.

_{Photo by Neil Wallace on Unsplash}

If only things
had worked out
the way I’d wished they would

We’d be opening gifts and
taking photos in front of
our first Christmas tree

But now I wish you
weren’t here, and instead
I’m planning my exit strategy.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: if only, dinner, and exit strategy. 

_{Photo by Andrew Abbate on Unsplash}

It’s Christmas Eve.
I wish more than ever
that this wasn’t happening.

I wish we could have lived
a life together from the start,
like you had with her,
like I’ll never have
with anyone.

I wish you were like your dad
who kept walking past your mom
to see her through a window while
she worked, and he wouldn’t
give up on her, he’d never give up.

Our love, if you could call it that,
went up and down like the
elevators your father worked on.

You said elevators can’t really crash
like they do in the movies, but… Read the rest