Poetry By Christine Potter

Warren LeMay CC 




Ready to Go


I don’t trust people I can’t crack up
or for that matter, people who laugh
too much. People who laugh all the 
time are like too-bright mornings 

with kindergarten clouds sketched
over the whole darn neighborhood.
Most of us are so bent over with bad
news we can’t lift our heads from 

our phones. We’re all looking for the
beginning of something reasonable:
a future when you don’t have to use
one-liners for passports to escape the

falling-down house of your heart, the
jaggedy-tall skyline of your loved city. 
Until then, sit with me at the end of
this day. I can’t say when it will get 

better, but it will. This huge, stupid
dump truck of grief is leaving, even 
if you can’t see it. It’s got its backup 
beepers on. I swear, it’s ready to go.

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Christine Potter is the poetry editor of Eclectica Magazine.  She has had poems curated by Rattle, Nine Mile Magazine, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Hole In the Head Review, After Happy Hour Review, and many other publications.  Her two most recent poetry collections are the chapbook Before The World Was on Fire (Bottlecap) and Why I Don't Take Xanax (Kelsay Books).  Her time-traveling teen novels, the Bean Books are published by Evernight Teen.  Christine lives in the Hudson Valley with a fierce but lovely kitty named Bella and a very patient husband.