Mollie O'Leary
Mollie O'Leary is a poet from Massachusetts. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Washington. Mollie’s chapbook The Forgetting Curve was selected for publication in 2023 through Poetry Online's chapbook series. Her poetry has appeared in Chestnut Review, McNeese Review, and elsewhere. Find more of her work at mollieoleary.com.
Learned Behavior
My landlady, realizing I lived alone
in a new city, gave me dish towels
and showed me how to replace
my AC filters. I wondered without
wanting to how much of her kindness
corresponded with my good credit,
my new job. My dad once paid me
twenty dollars to plant perennials.
When I hadn’t broken soil by sundown,
he called me into the kitchen, ripped
the bills, threw them like confetti. It was
almost funny—I waited, half-wanting
something more solid to slice
the air. After seeing the first roach
in my apartment, I considered my instant
disgust, wondered when that reaction
had been instilled in me. The yawning
of a garage door used to make my heart
drop like a stunned bird, would send me
running to straighten shoes, to hide
evidence children might live there.
Years later, driving through the high desert
of Colorado, I stopped to order coffee.
The foam in my cup sank seconds after
the barista poured the milk. She nodded.
A storm’s coming. Some types of knowing
I can only describe by their weight,
by the way they expand like water
in the throat. Later, under a night so black
it looked flat, I watched lightning crack
the sky like a plate, like something about
to break. I could have been perfect—
nothing would have changed
how he saw me.
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