Have you ever forged your own signature?
Monica Wendel
What are you most afraid of?
What if all the books you read only had long introductions?
And the more you read the intro the more you wanted to read the books?
But what if you never got to the book itself?
Which do you value more, time or money?
Shouldn’t you get paid more?
I’m trying to be more compassionate.
I was nice to someone in the elevator.
How many months is this in my bank account?
Today a movie scout scouted our house.
I brought him up to the roof. He brought his camera.
I said, every unwashed cherry is a day off your life.
I said, what’s the worst that can happen?
He left and I tore up the basil plants.
I want movie stars everywhere.
I want trailers disobeying street cleaning laws.
I want the subways to change which way they run
and the express trains barreling without any stops.
Everything is dangerous.
Do you eat plants that grow in this soil? That grow at night?
Do you back up the information on your hard drive?
Do you subscribe to Netflix? Carry a library card?
Do you think that going to school for the arts is a moral abomination?
Do you have enough friends?
How many invites do you need to feel wanted?
Is it ever okay to ask someone if she’s pregnant?
Do you split beers? Cigarettes?
Do you make your own hummus?
This is only the beginning.
Does that make you feel better, or worse?
Monica Wendel is the author of No Apocalypse (Georgetown Review Press, 2013) and the chapbook Call it a Window (Midwest Writing Center, 2012). She has been awarded residencies from the Jack Kerouac Writers in Residence Project of Orlando, Florida and Art Farm – Nebraska, but otherwise she lives in Brooklyn.