This Is All Mary Oliver’s Fault

Why do we bury our dead with beautiful things?

I think it’s something to do with why we hunger

For the places in us that ache, tender:

You watch a movie where the dog dies.

You listen to the song that belongs to

The last person who broke your heart.

You pick at fresh scabs because

There just might be a clean pink scar underneath.

And as the wound leaks down your elbow,

You think about the way you dive headlong back into your nightmares,

As if you could fix what has never been whole.

Mia Vodanovich is an English instructor from the Bay Area. She has been published in NDNU's The Bohemian and EVC's Leaf by Leaf and currently serves as the editor of prose for the former. Outside of the classroom, you can usually find her enjoying her grandmother's lumpia recipe, longboarding, and/or singing ABBA at the top of her lungs.