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Chicago is Weird

by Teresa McMahon

Chicago is weird
outside the library
a man offers me 
coffee nuts
I am polite 
so I say no

tonight
went on a date
with a guy who
looks like James Franco
we bring up the B word
binge
let’s go

a different
date tells me
he found the 
slasher films 
I was in in college 
I panic 
he smiles

here, a story:
a little girl’s arm 
bruised fingerprints 
from the principal 
in a closet
I am alone
it is cold

it is cold 
in Chicago
but Boston has more
snow
my older sister sends me 
pictures of our home 
she says it is an 
igloo
I want to be in an igloo 
for my future honeymoon

this summer I want to kayak
grew up with a canoe 
in my backyard
only ever canoed New Hampshire
when visiting 
Uncle Eddie
who wasn’t an uncle
just
my dad’s friend

snow turns me into a child
on Michigan Avenue I am
crying

I am so happy
you are having
a good week 
now tell me what you ate
list it so I know

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