Amy Stilgenbauer

I'll Pay the Price

Watching you fill a pastry case
Starbucks - 6 AM
My mind skips to a thought
a million times
Winter wind in Southern Michigan
intermingled
with the aroma of coffee beans
that claim Sumatran roots
I'll believe it for today

My boots aren't nearly as waterproof as I hoped
and my body longs for sleep
Far from my home
in unexpected directions

(North on 23
east on Ford)

Yesterday, I dreamed
of a jade green kitchen
a honeymoon
a sunset
"kisses in an airport terminal"
3 little Italian brats of my own

Today,
I listen to your chipper "drive-thru voice"
and my mind says again…

I'll pay the price.



Also from Amy Stilgenbauer:
Red Nails, Orange Bar / A NE Ohio girl in Detroit

Contributor Bio

Born in a little Appalachian town, the influence of which is widely evident in her work, Amy is a graduate of Mount Union College in Eastern Ohio where she studied Writing, Art, and Non-profit public relations. Suddenly, she transplanted herself to Michigan in order to become a graduate student (at the University of Michigan, a move both lauded and boo'd by her Buckeye family). If there's one thing she believes in, it's the potential of the Great Lake states and the people who reside there, and for that reason her artistic vision is to showcase the different aspects of the region through poetry, narrative, personal memoir, and visual art.