Fairy Tales
My best friend believes in fairies.
The kind that come into your garden
And help flowers bloom,
Or the ones who cover you in glittering dust
To help you sleep.
She said not to use the word believe
Because it leaves room to suggest something may not be real.
But the fairies I believe in
Are the ones that creep in just before 3am
When your head has no confidence
And offers your life's greatest hits
Like a playlist of sad music
On repeat.
And you listen to the echo of the halls
Of the goddamn undergrad students who just moved in.
And these fairies, they sit in window sills,
Door frames,
The couch that you inherited from your ex after his father died.
And they light up these memories
Like fireworks in October.
Where those same students
Knock on the door to explain the risk of fire.
Lynne Schmidt (she/her) is a mental health professional in Maine. Her unpublished memoir, The Right to Live: A Memoir of Abortion has received Maine Nonfiction Award and was a 2018 PNWA finalist, while her poetry has received the Editor's Choice Award for her poem, Baxter, from Frost Meadow Review, and her chapbook, Dead Dog Poems, was honorable mention from Pub House Books. Her work has appeared in Soft Cartel, RESIST/RECLAIM, Royal Rose, Maine Dog Magazine, Alyss Literary, Her Kind Vida, and others. When given the choice, Lynne prefers the company of her three dogs and one cat to humans.
She is a regular contributor for Marias at Sampaguitas.
Twitter: @LynneSchmidt @Abortion Chat
Facebook: Lynn(e) Schmidt
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