• Indelicacy, a new poem by Rosie Schaap

    "Name the thing what the thing is: It won’t kill you."

    Indelicacy

    Article continues after advertisement
    Remove Ads

    At 46 I’m traveling for months, alone.
    Over the hill and on the road!
    Everyone tells me how they’re jealous:
    Lucky you! they cry. Lucky me!

    Lucky me, sure. In essentials I can’t say
    They’re wrong, but: would it be fair
    If being an unemployed, childless widow
    Had no benefits? I ask. That shuts them up.

    When it happened, Lily the fruit-monger
    Thought he had left me. One eyebrow rose,
    One rough, inquisitional crag. Where is.
    Your husband. Haven’t seen. Long time.

    I gave one word: Dead. (He’d left me alright).
    Came out just like that. Better than blubbering
    That he had passed, like a gallstone or as some Jews
    Among WASPs. Or had passed on, like rejection.

    Article continues after advertisement
    Remove Ads

    Shut Lily up, too: The most natural utterance.
    Name the thing what the thing is: It won’t kill you.
    My indelicacy, Lily’s gall: Now, I could talk
    About dying forever—except who lives so long?

    Rosie Schaap
    Rosie Schaap
    Rosie Schaap is the author of Drinking With Men: A Memoir, named one of 2013’s best books by Library Journal and National Public Radio. A columnist for The New York Times Magazine from 2011 to 2017, she is currently working on a book about whiskey, and on a poetry collection called Fun City. She teaches in the MFA program in creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University.





    More Story
    In Every Moment We Are Still Alive The consultant stamps down the wheel lock of Karin’s hospital bed. In a loud voice he addresses the intensive care nurses,...
  • Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member: Because Books Matter

    For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience, exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag. Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

    x