Lonely Girl Abecedarian
By Hannah Cohen
It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!
Anyway, did you know that I wear bad luck like wet shoes? Can you believe it’s been four years since my last date? I’m cleaned out when it comes to mood: eager, enthusiastic, excited. Fuck it. Actual texts I get from guys: hi or jk or lol—I digress. I am making things even more difficult. God, I’m really never gonna get laid again. Okay, okay, I’m being a little dramatic. I should be on meds, probably, but I’m too self-conscious to ask my therapist questions, and tell him how reality outside his room with the blue carpet and wood paneling sucks. Truly terrible. Apologies in advance for the ongoing mutiny in my head, one usurper of good intentions after another, but hey, vicious cycles have to end at some point. You know I’m done for when I love men the way I failed algebra. Find x, solve for why. Yearning for the exact inexactness of my design, zodiac signs, the numbers, the what-else out there.
Hannah Cohen received her MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte. Hannah is the author of two poetry chapbooks from Glass Poetry Press: Year of the Scapegoat (2022) and Bad Anatomy (2018). Hannah is one of the founding editors of the online literary journal Cotton Xenomorph. Publications include the University of Arizona's Poetry Center blog 1508, Michigan Quarterly Review, Booth, Hey Alma, Pidgeonholes, Qu Lit Mag, The Offing, The Rumpus, Cherry Tree, Drunk Monkeys, and others. She was a Best of the Net 2018 finalist and a Pushcart Prize nominee.
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Some female friends have shared this experience. I like the language and cleverness of in the head we're taken to. Hah, but there you go, the sort of bloke who gets this is friend material and the coin is flipped:)
Brilliant! I love the abecedarian as a form and you have elevated it with both sharp humor and poignant vulnerability. What a combination! Brava!