A POEM by MATT SCHULTZ

Written on the Bathroom Wall

Just below a roll of toilet paper

cascading white toward the tile

floor and a pool of dried piss

where an ant, seemingly stuck,

waves its antennae in a frantic

plea for freedom, a declaration:

Lucy ‘22 loves cocker spaniels.

You can’t help but imagine Lucy

sitting atop the bowl where your

thighs currently rest, digging in

her backpack for a purple gel pen

to claim some real estate on the slate

gray wall. You have to be sitting

to see it, and whoever boldly added

that vulgar quip couldn’t possibly

have known if it were true or not.

Why do they always write it so big? As if

this were Lucy’s defining characteristic?

And was it Lucy or some kind soul

who corrected the amendment that

had all the boys looking down at the

insignificance between their legs

to wonder how anyone could love them.

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Matt Schultz writes all kinds of poems. This is one of them.