Dear Reader Poem
Dear Reader
Caitlin Barlow
Dearest of Reader’s,
We have gathered here today,
To say goodbye to my friend, my soul, my pride
I shake my wallet your way
Throwing blank checks and awkward glances
In exchange, you stare and nod, with a promise
A promise to change my life
You give me a diagnosis,
A label of my mental state,
A label which describes twenty three years of life,
In four melancholy words
Well Reader,
Fuck you.
You don’t know anything other than what I told you
If you recall reader I told you that I lie, I cheat, I steal.
After 2 hours of meeting with you, you tell me these
Words belong to me?
I want to give them back to you
Folded up neatly in the fifteen dollar check that I
Fold and wrinkle while nervously telling you
About the time…
The time…
The time…
Time’s up you said,
I looked at the clock.
Relieved that my shaky, scared, and weak voice could rest.
That I could at last stop recalling memory after brutal memory.
I say thank you,
Time is up.
It’s time to go.
See you next week.
Caitlin Barlow
Dearest of Reader’s,
We have gathered here today,
To say goodbye to my friend, my soul, my pride
I shake my wallet your way
Throwing blank checks and awkward glances
In exchange, you stare and nod, with a promise
A promise to change my life
You give me a diagnosis,
A label of my mental state,
A label which describes twenty three years of life,
In four melancholy words
Well Reader,
Fuck you.
You don’t know anything other than what I told you
If you recall reader I told you that I lie, I cheat, I steal.
After 2 hours of meeting with you, you tell me these
Words belong to me?
I want to give them back to you
Folded up neatly in the fifteen dollar check that I
Fold and wrinkle while nervously telling you
About the time…
The time…
The time…
Time’s up you said,
I looked at the clock.
Relieved that my shaky, scared, and weak voice could rest.
That I could at last stop recalling memory after brutal memory.
I say thank you,
Time is up.
It’s time to go.
See you next week.