Kristy Snedden
Essentials
I wish I still liked being high, doped up, baked
& buffered by fog, especially now it’s legal
to go about my day half-stoned writing poetry.
I’m glad my parents drank, even though it gave me
loneliness. It was worth it to see the warm parlor light,
hear the ice cubes tinkle against the glass, listen
for my mother’s harsh tone to turn soft, that moment
she tucked me into bed, careful wobbly feet in heels,
liquor scented dreams. I’m about to be wealthy.
I keep checking my accounts, list charities on the back page
of this book I’m reading. I’ll give it all away I promise
that’s a lie. I’ll keep enough for my long list of life essentials,
mostly Microsoft on every device and money to renovate
this house of ghost rooms. Then I’ll start on the rest
of the world everyone who needs a little something
to get through the day or their life, a mortared stone hut
buttressed with moss and soft beds, chickens and a well
in every yard, a little toke of this, a little smoke of that.
Kristy Snedden is a trauma psychotherapist. Her poetry appears in various on-line and print journals and anthologies, including Snapdragon, CV2, and storySouth. Among other honors, her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She serves as the Book Review Editor for Anti-Heroin Chic. Kristy runs Brainspotting Through the Poet’s Eye groups to deepen healing through writing and Brainspotting. She loves hiking near her home in the foothills of Appalachia.