The Poetry Project

What They Did Yesterday

Lydia Cortés

Lena fell so needed 2 stitches above her left eye andalso she broke her left wrist but didn’t need casting

I lay on the futon the entire day without feeling anything without stretching or swelling or thinning without remorse

Marc went shopping for groceries for the week but couldn’t find any siracha gandules yautia or mofongo… wrong neighborhood

Karen worked on her dissertation for hours that had been due 2 weeks ago and 17 days

Joe didn’t leave the nursing home for 3 days and got cozy with his new roommate

Stella called Stanley begging him to return then she yelled out his name repeatedly gruffly and lustily

Mary had her last name changed back to her maiden name when her ex warned her not to soil his name or the children

Christian learned 2 new facts that he could use against Bob and one piece of misinformation about his wife that might work anyway

Dick went out and bought a dictionary on sale but the A’s were missing and some of the Z’s

The twins got into a down and dirty brawl and one lost an eye but people couldn’t figure out which one

Rosemarie Henyea who had osteopinya decided to quit teaching wearing miniskirts watching Minions and peeling onions

Suzie Q. looked into adopting new kids because the other ones were done underdone cooked or overdone

John Paul paused outside the church and crossed himself even though he wasn’t high Catholic or even low Anglican

Mark Anthony decided to marry his fourth 19 year old girlfriend in a row and have his eighth kid

Tillie was thrilled to find out she was an aunt again though she had no siblings

Marilyn decided to leave the country but couldn’t decide which one

Teresa contemplated murdering her mother in law but thought she’d think about the details in the morning like Scarlet, when her head was clearer

Work from Poetry, a Breaking Wave: Spilling, Plunging, Collapsing, Surging with Lara Mimosa Montes

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