Poetry Prescription

I used to follow a column from The Paris Review, a literary magazine, called Poetry Rx. Here, people would send in letters about lost loves, about small victories, about loneliness, and ask the poets to prescribe them a poem. I have discovered many of my favourite poems this way. Unfortunately, with the onset of the pandemic, they stopped posting, with the last Rx being filled in March 2020.

I figured, if I can prescribe medication, I should be able to prescribe poetry.

And so, from now on, I will be sharing some of my favourite poems here. I hope you may find something you need.

Today's poem is about that day you were absent from the fourth grade. You know, that one time you had the flu, and you didn't even have to pretend to be tired and force out a few coughs to convince your parents to let you stay home

"I'm fine, its just a small cold, I can probably go to school..." you sniffle, as you throw a furtive glance at your parents. Insisting you're okay to go to school is a key part of getting out of school; kids, take note.

In case you were curious as to what you missed, this poem will bring you up to date. Turns out, being an adult is difficult only because you were sick that day they taught it in the fourth grade.