Kelly’s response to Larissa’s piece from last week, “Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, but the crime is I’ve been a very bad girl and the punishment is a good spanking”

I'm not crying, you're crying 😭

dear _______,  
(if that’s even your real name)

you know what’s a trap? 
measuring affection 

in time spent 
pick up the phone 

it’s ringing unbridled 
fun is most often pink 

putting velvet years
between us 

doesn’t mean I don’t 
love you 😘

I’m just a difficult 
rose to place, really 

these aren’t tears 
my eyes are only

sweating they keep 
the confusion 

in the nomenclature 
on purpose 

remember when 
I was the heroine?

smart & new 
& content under 

any condition
now I only pay 

attention 
to the questions 

they don’t 
ask it’s funny 

how bored we get 
without a role to play

but it’s good
to have a battle

cry like, help!
every time I try

to say goodbye 
I hear a noise

that sounds like
an octopus 

swallowing 
an ice cube 

& I’ve tried 
to plug my ears 

with salami
but my friends 

are afraid to 
ask me what

I think this side of
Jupiter stopped

carrying the convo 
long ago now

it’s quiet here 
but I must believe 

in my contradictions 
because they’re still 

out there growing 
in our garden

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See you next week 😘