Cora Bosse

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Calcine

I was nice once
I smiled at strangers in coffee shops
And listened to tales of lonely men

I was naïve once
I held any hand that reached for me
Not realizing they were reaching with hooks

I was slow once
Slow to pull away, slow to
Say that strange word
"no"

I was shy once
Too shy to share what happened
Too scared to hear "you should have known"

Cora Bosse is a native Cincinnatian and houseplant killer. She has been writing poetry of varying quality for most of her life; her earliest poems prompted phone calls to her mother from the school guidance counselor. She hopes that her poems make the reader smile, or at least have a weird dream later.