You dish out sympathy in ice cream scoops
With toppings to mend the hurt.
You joke as if you know
That no laughing will help
At least not yet
Today I eat my feelings
I forget the scale’s needle moving up
(even though forgetting doesn’t make it stop.)
Instead I laugh. . . and accept
Free token ice cream
And a pithy quote
About fish, or some such creatures
Tomorrow this memory,
However pleasant you have been
Will go in a box
In my roommate’s room
Along with all of him.
——
Kathryn Dennett is a student at Northwestern University who procrastinates by writing poems. . . of varying quality.