To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall by Kim Addonizio
To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall
Kim AddonizioIf you ever woke in your dress at 4am ever
closed your legs to someone you loved opened
them for someone you didn’t moved against
a pillow in the dark stood miserably on a beach
seaweed clinging to your ankles paid
good money for a bad haircut backed away
from a mirror that wanted to kill you bled
into the back seat for lack of a tampon
if you swam across a river under rain sang
using a dildo for a microphone stayed up
to watch the moon eat the sun entire
ripped out the stitches in your heart
because why not if you think nothing &
no one can / listen I love you joy is coming
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SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Poetry Society of America, .
ABOUT KIM ADDONIZIO
Kim Addonizio was born in Washington, D.C., on July 31, 1954. She received her BA and MA from San Francisco State University. Addonizio’s numerous books of poetry are Exit Opera (W. W. Norton, 2024); Now We’re Getting Somewhere (W. W. Norton, 2021); Mortal Trash (W. W. Norton, 2016); Lucifer at the Starlite (W. W. Norton, 2009); What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems (W. W. Norton, 2004); Tell Me (BOA Editions, 2000), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; Jimmy… (more)
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ENDNOTES
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