I will refuse to call it heaven if the people I love (who put me through hell) aren't there. - Andrea Gibson

I grew up in the town that received the first distress signal saying the Titanic was going down. It was the only thing we were ever renowned for. In fact, we prided ourselves on our failure to save the sinking, which is maybe part of the reason I prided myself on drinking my first fifth of whiskey at twelve years old. It's cold where I come from. I learned to drown young.

I suppose I love this life,
In spite of my clenched first.

My mother used to knit my mittens
too big so they'd still fit me when
I grew. I wore them and I'd look
like what I wasn't yet. I feel that
sometimes when I'm writing my poems.
They don't yet fit. Ever feel like
the best of you is something you're
still hoping to grow into?