On what I construe to be a Wednesday,

________my mom and I talk for hours on the phone,
then pass books we hate between us
________________and call them recommendations.

________________Have you read so and so?
________________Book club hated it.
I got so mad I couldn’t speak.

I turn my head.

How best to wipe the stains
from white cupboard drawers,
______________what spray to use?
______________________________________________Should I order more towels?

______________________________________________You don’t listen.
______________________________________________No, you don’t.
______________________________________________You don’t listen when I speak.

Published August 6th, 2020

Spencer Williams is from Chula Vista, California. She is the author of the chapbook Alien Pink (The Atlas Review, 2017) and has work featured in Apogee, Bright Wall/Dark Room, PANK, Anomaly, DREGINALD, and Powder Keg. She holds an MFA in poetry from Rutgers University-Newark and tweets @burritotheif.