#atinylife PoemReadingDare

When I was about eighteen

lots of people starting talking

about a book they had read.

 

‘It’s totally about you, Stella!’

They would say.

And I would be like

What? A total fuck up

like I am?

 

I can’t remember

where I got my first copy

or where I read it

or what I was doing at the time.

 

But I have read it so often

since then

that I know it all

off by heart.

Words and phrases

from the book

remain in my vocabulary

 

‘happiness is … the pursuit

of attainable goals.’

 

‘I am going to cancel

and spend the evening

eating doughnuts

in a cardigan

with egg on it.’

 

‘Humph.’

 

Sentences structured without all words.

 

One of my favourite reviews

of my own novel,

said it was like ‘a younger version

of Bridget Jones.’

Which was

v. good.