Untitled (after Plath)

by Mia Marion

At the Ramen place across from my apartment building,
you can buy six bowls of noodles, and get one for free.
What a perfect deal for me!
For I am always eating Ramen in quantities of seven.

I walked back from KGB bar alone, after midnight.
Men congregated outside of Veselka.
Men still congregate outside of Veselka after midnight?
I guess my mother was right.

My mother was tender, kind, and always right.
She taught me to eat candy for dinner and stay up all night.
When at last I learned to read,
She gave me a book of poetry curated by Jackie Kennedy.
But because I lacked a definition of the word curated,
I grew up lauding Jackie Kennedy, the poet.

I think Sylvia Plath was my bisexual awakening.
There was something so erotic about “Lady Lazarus.”
I could not handle the emotional commitment
of watching the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, so I quit.
Isn’t it cool that you can quit when they become too difficult?

Sylvia Plath taught me that.