berlin self-help hotline
why, americans
are you the saddest people?
when germans
get upset
they just accept it,
don’t read a fucking book
or listen to idiots on podcast
yet again, a vagabond
tripping on piss stained
concrete
i wonder
was it the pants
pills partners
too much thinking?
the lack
of bed spare
change bathroom
fuzzy sweater?
self-help
in one ear
persisting shame
in another
stumbling techno tourist
covered in love
bites fleas
over time
& with meds
she quiets
i wonder
to which tongues
her books lie
in which story
nobody burns
buries a ghost
scratches
their itch with
somebody else’s
skin
outside night falls
too loud
i hold
my own hands
pray to my own
pills bed
fuzzy sweater
smiling
at passing shadows
far from my own
Hannah Polinski is a writer and filmmaker currently based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Her writing has appeared in Frontier Poetry, Ricepaper, White Wall Review, and In the Mood Magazine. She exists online at hannahpolinski.com.
