Poem Without Drugs
I don’t know how to write poems without drugs,
so I ask my dog to write them for me.
Usually he complies, but today he just
huffs and says, “I don’t write poems without turkey.”
So I go to my father. I say, “Dad, won’t
you help me?” He says, “Last time I did that
we both got a C, and besides, I don’t
write poems without black tea.” So I collapse
to the floor, and I beg and I pray
for God to write me a sonnet. “Just this
once let me borrow some words,” I say,
“I’ll cite you as a source, okay? I promise,
in the name of Christ, your ever-loving son.”
But by the time He answers, the poem is done.
Emily Hargitai is a senior Creative Writing student at SUNY Purchase and a recipient of the 2018 Ginny Wray Prize in Poetry. She likes writing poems about writing poems and currently has six gray hairs.