List of Skills and Shortcomings by Rachelle Street

I always see things coming but never stop them.
I always see things coming.

Lies drip from my mouth like molasses,
slow and constant. I am sticky with them.
They keep me sweet and approachable.
No one has licked long enough to find flesh.

My life is a house of cards or stack of dominoes.
I hold my breath for days on end.
I slap at hands threatening to tip the first piece
then knock it over myself.

For lack of more pleasant things to think of
I memorize the exact car of every subway train
I need to be in for the most convenient transfer or exit.

I can explain to you the difference between a sweet potato and yam.
I can tell you the teaspoon to tablespoon conversion
of every quarter-cup increment.
I know iterate and reiterate mean the same thing.
As do flammable and inflammable.

None of this is pertinent.

How dare you make love to me and not mean it.
How dare you turn my accusing finger back towards me
and say You saw it coming but did nothing to stop it.
How dare I accept this from you as a winning argument.

The moon was not full that night.
More suicides occur during the full moon.
More suicides occur during the month of January.

Yellow causes anxiety and tension.
Orange implies strength.
Babies cry less in blue rooms.

My last boyfriend wanted to paint my ceiling
to look like the sky at noon. I refused him.
Claimed the sound of my own sobs was the sweetest symphony I could imagine.
I didn’t want anything tangible in my way to hold me back.

I can name the favorite color of all of my exes.
I can tell you where I was the first time kissed each and every one of them.
I know a dozen different bookbinding techniques.
I can find the circumference, area and volume of any geometric shape.

None of this is important.

I still confuse scallion, scallop and shallot.
I am unable to successfully create a vegan custard.
If the recipe calls for poaching I simply forget it.

I saw you coming from a mile away.
I did not stop you.

I can’t name the fifty states and their capitols.
If I’m lucky I can tell you the name of ten U.S. Presidents.
Five years of Spanish class and I still can’t speak in past tense.
The sight of blood makes me nauseous.

The second door on the third subway car
opens exactly to the exit nearest your apartment.

I am always so obvious.
You must have seen me coming.

We saw each other coming.
We did nothing to stop it.