Poetry of Issue #7        Page 32

Postcards To Her Past Self
    after Catherine Pierce

1.
Go see England. He’s not worth it.

2.
Find repose in the mountains. You will find yourself climbing down the wrong side of
the hill, a backpack heavy with oranges, a diary, a camera you have no business
bringing and two dogs tied to your hip. You’ll make it through, just keep walking.

3.
Read the books assigned all the way through. I know no one ever does, someday
you’ll be happy you did. Don’t take the spiders outside, they’ll just come back in.

4.
Mud is the answer. Smear mud on your face with your sister at midnight. Squish mud
in between your toes when you are swallowed in sadness. Bake a mud pie with the
daughter you will have a cool day in May. Mud will keep you young.

5.
Never play house with a boy that blames the shingles for the storm.

6.
Remember that year in Boulder. You must never forget the black marley that covered
the stage floor. It is imperative you remember the way the wrinkles in the corner of
your mother’s eyes deepened as she watched you dance. Push past the nights you
couldn’t sleep because the crickets were so loud.

  Kimbra Lauren