A Week of Poems by Stephanie Brown

Each morning this week we will be posting new poems by Stephanie Brown, whose new book, Domestic Interior, was published this fall in the Pitt Poetry Series edited by Ed Ochester. Friday’s poem is from that new book, which you can order here.

— DL

You Get Comfortable and Relax

Yesterday at work,
Pam said, I think it’s like slipping off really tight
clothes, you get
comfortable and relax; there are all these
things to do. I said,
I think there’s real estate. No, I said,
I always imagined my Dad went first so he could find
A nice place for my mom. That’s the way he is;
This is a joke but not, you understand, and made her laugh.

She said, I would like to be wearing a great looking Armani
coat
And lie down and choose to die
Like Indians. You
know, “good day to die?”

I said, I think that’s what they said before battle, not
suicide.
I might not be right about that but I know what you mean.
I said, But you can’t do that. What if

It really is a sin
to commit suicide? I said, All those
Near-death people who tried, they came back
To report the mistake, the grave mistake, I emphasized,
Trying to make it funny again. I love that we have
Conversations like this! she said. Me too,
And then we turned our backs to each other, back
To the computer screen, back to work. 

— Stephanie Brown