When You Know that You’re About to Let Somthing Go

 

After that night

a snow storm came and

Knocked the power out for a whole day and night.

I couldn’t leave the house.

 

It was lonely.

 

Mom and I had to heat up snow

so that we could flush the toilets

and boil water.

Two nights before then

I tried my hardest to get drunk

so that I could read my poems

in front of everyone.

I almost wish I hadn’t

because maybe then I would remember more of it.

 

Glass after glass

of my mom’s Lake Niagara wine I drank.

 

When I walked through the back door

of the coffee shop

I suddenly became aware

of how drunk I was.

Everyone was packed into one room

and all of their eyes

smelled the wine on me.

 

 

Liz Foster

2009