Treehouse

Sarah Kay

For the guy who threw an egg at me from his car window.

Hey. Thanks for coming.
You know, I haven’t ever done one of these before,
and I didn’t know whether you’d show up,
so I’m glad I recognized you.

I mean, you were exactly like your description said you’d be—
Big black sports car,
muscular ego,
really good aim.

And I’m glad, because I hate when people advertise themselves as something they’re not
and then you meet them in person and are disappointed.
It’s why I don’t wear makeup. So you always know that what you see
is pretty much what you get. That’s why my description reads:

Skin—inclined towards bruising.
Hair for days—of face hiding.
Big, giant—self-consciousness that you can really grab with both hands.
I’m glad we’re both honest.

Look, I know it’s past my bedtime,
and a nice girl like me probably shouldn’t be out on the street but
if you get to know me better, you’ll find my eye-lashes are the most stubborn part of me.
They love late night haunts, wouldn’t trade them for all the pillows in the world.

Plus, if I was at home right now,
this street corner never would have served its purpose:
the perfect spot for this rendez-vous.
You—tall, dark and speeding.
Me—bottomless pit of bad reflexes.
What a perfect match.

I wish I had had more time to prepare,
I could have gotten dressed up for the occasion.
Now I’m embarrassed, really,
that you put in so much effort, and here I am
wearing nothing but an easy target.

Sarah Kay is a poet from New York City who has been performing her spoken word poetry since she was fourteen years old. She is perhaps best known for her talk at the 2011 TED Conference in Long Beach, CA, which garnered two standing ovations and has moved audiences around the world. Sarah holds a Masters Degree in The Art of Teaching from Brown University and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Grinnell College. Her first book, B was ranked #1 Poetry Book on Amazon. Her second book, No Matter the Wreckage is available from Write Bloody Publishing. Sarah is the founder of Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry as a literacy and empowerment tool in schools and communities around the world. For more, see: www.kaysarahsera.com

See Sarah’s list of 5 Things in our ongoing contributors’ series.

♦