make me love you

its three oh four in the afternoon
on a sunday and i'm marrying
nell zink
because she wrote a story
that was excerpted in harpers
and i wanted to write again
thank god, i thought
for a good writer
even then, thank god
i thought
for a southern scene
i'm practically airless standing up
in my frowning midwinter
thank god
for carson mccullers and
for the lack of cell phones
in a story from 1965

i'm going back in time again
back to college
and writing a paper
thinking on paper
and hot under the necklace
dreaming on paper
that i might find
my story name
my real life self
some people believe in
their true selves so much
that they wear animal suits
so they can be them
so they can live