Andrea England
On Hearing That Google Searches for “Liquor Store Near Me” Were at an All-time High on Election Night
It was said of COVID too, sheltered in place, shelves
unburdened of proofs, un-scienced, Venus high
and as yellow as a jaundiced newborn.
I’m not much of a drinker anymore, so I sip
a glass of wine around a neighbor’s bonfire,
listening to votes roll in and chicken
sizzle on the grate, for a minute feeling
a little guilty for the luxury of food and the
moon. My daughter is telling a story and I
find myself interrupting again. I want all
her stories to be our stories. Is that so bad?
I am learning to let go of death, this election,
ideas that I can forever protect my daughter
as long as I pretend I have control over my
body and her screen-time. Like the thermostat,
I am guilty of waiting until it’s too cold to turn
up the heat, the sweat of over-compensating
waking me up in the night, this whole country
menopausal. The morning after is already here,
the coffee weakening, the sun and the moon still
at odds, both fighting to light up the sky.
—Submitted on 11/09/2020
Andrea England is the co-editor of the anthology Scientists and Poets #Resist (Brill Press, 2019), and the author of Other Geographies (Creative Justice Press, 2017) and Inventory of a Field (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Her poems have appeared in SWWIM, SoFloPoJo, The Potomac Review, and other journals. She lives and writes between Kalamazoo and Manistee Michigan, with her partner and their three teenage daughters.
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