jessica Manack

dad visits me at college

He drove the ten hours straight
   passed out on the air mattress 
       in the social room

 
His pants were ripped 
    down the ass crack
       with nothing underneath

 
Was he fucking with us
       or just fucked up?

 
He wanted to take us to dinner
     so my roommate came along, the promise of food
           or comedy too great to ignore

 
We all ate steaks at Applebee’s
       extra onion rings
    I talked about William Cullen Bryant,
         recited lines from “Thanatopsis”
And he said, No use being afraid to die
     we’re all gonna shit ourselves 
           one of these days

 
I hid all the gay stuff
    ripped the pictures of Françoise Hardy
from the walls

 
Walked around undercover,
   all jumpy, waiting
to be admonished for something or other
       my wet hair, the muddy cuffs
           of my jeans

 
And then there it was:
Honey, You should have told me
      this was 
           a dry town

JESSICA MANACK HOLDS DEGREES FROM HOLLINS UNIVERSITY AND LIVES WITH HER FAMILY IN PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA. HER WRITING HAS RECENTLY APPEARED IN HIGH SHELF PRESS, PRIME NUMBER MAGAZINE AND THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE.