2020 Spring Contest Winners: Under 30: 2nd Place Winner

“She Seems Like a Nice Girl with a Mean Streak”

by Eva Parish

The author as described by an ex-boyfriend’s mother

How mean am I, do you imagine? What terrible things

Do I do to your son every night (besides the ones

He asks for)? Perhaps I make him watch the sappiest movies,

Or demand flowers every third day, or staple his hand against mine

So he can’t let go.

I could cut off his fingertips, one by one,

Or just cut his nails a little too short

So that he winces and thinks of me

Every time he reaches for something.

If I were truly mean, I would carve my name on his body

With a bone-handled knife; ruin him for anyone else.

I’d make sure it scarred — nightly salve of lye

For the liar. Would it be mean

If I erased his emotions, if I questioned every feeling he had

Until he no longer trusted his own mind? Or

Drove him out into the desert, pretended to leave him,

Let him watch the dust blurring my taillights.

Let him take stock of his water supply, his vulnerability,

Consider a night alone in the black cold —

And then returned to hold him as he sobbed,

His little heart beating, battering,

Hating me but afraid to let go.

Have you considered that maybe

Pain drops a stone inside him

And if I listen carefully, I can almost hear the bottom of the well

For once. Or maybe

You should ask yourself why

He prefers his women mean.

Poet’s Bio

Eva Parish has studied poetry at Tufts University and the Writers Studio. She lives in New York City and works as a technical writer.

Judge’s Comments – David Biespiel

What a hardy, hearty defense of love and independence. And such terrific detailing — “bone-handled knife,” “What terrible things/Do I do to your son every night (besides the ones/He asks for)?” “He prefers his women mean”.

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