by Bella Aase
this time i lie sleepless on the couch
forty minutes debating whether to text you back
that i didn’t care if i woke up today
and when i do, you invite me over for fried chicken
and bake chocolate chip cookies, crumbs in our pink
blanketed laps, not annoyed i’m mostly silent and sad
and we watch Shrek while your roommate’s dog
Sage dreams close by you on the basement floor
and you snicker at adult jokes we never caught as kids
the unorthodox means of rescuing a princess
and it’s been four hours not thinking about dying
and when Fiona reveals her ogre curse
Sage’s legs twitch, tranquil without burden
and i remember love takes many forms
because when i get up to go pee
Sage lifts her heavy head, drops the dream
to make sure i'm not leaving
***
Bella Aase (she/they) is a recovering perfectionist with Bipolar II disorder. She is a graduate student in the MFA creative writing program at Hamline University and has a Substack called Wax and Sonder. Their work has appeared in Serotonin and This Was 2020. Bella lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband, John, who is also a writer.
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