by Stevie Green
If I don’t text back immediately
I’m not mad, I’m just
Laughing because the Calm app tells me I’ve had zero mindful days / wondering if aliens had tracksuit eras at some point in their evolution of if they just skipped by the whole look / Googling the voice actors from Hey Arnold to see what they’re up to now / tracing my bloodline to find royalty or a claim to a stately home in the vain hope it’ll get me out of having to go to work tomorrow / confused at how the US military lost an $80million fighter jet after the pilot ejected and it took itself on a joyride for a while before crashing back down to earth / trying to decide if anyone actually notices when I pull an Irish goodbye / attempting to understand mortgage rates so I’ll be able to follow what people are talking about when it comes up in conversation / putting my life on Vinted so I can make room for my next life / debating whether it’s too pedantic to get out of bed to unplug the toaster to save a few pennies because I’m worried I won’t be able to afford the electric bill this month / on the phone to my mom telling her not to worry / figuring out if I am okay to start letting go of the hubris of my own vanity and slip into middle age as if youth is so forgettable / talking myself down off the ledge again / protecting my peace / convincing myself that I’m not a ghost / practicing sounding like everything is okay and doing one thing a day to prove it.
Stevie Green is a poet from Birmingham, England, and refers to his poems as
his ‘mad little essays.’ He took to poetry in an attempt to romanticise his
own life, because nobody else was going to do it. He now lives in London
and can be found on Instagram @stevenhamezgreen.