Jacob Butlett

     a palimpsest based on Karin Gottshall’s “More Lies”

Somedays I say I’m going to hang out with my boyfriend—
even though I have no boyfriend—simply because the truth
is too hard to bear. I’ve always felt lonely, ever since

I was a kid, closeted, in remedial reading classes, 
unable to grasp the simplest books. Today, I drove 
alone down icy streets, wearing a flannel scarf, hoping

pedestrians might wonder where I was going. I borrowed
a book of poems from the library, the building windows
frosted. August flurries are a kind of omen, but I pay

the cold no mind. I tucked the book under my arm
and sat in a park gazebo. I like the alabaster boughs.
I like how my boots squeak and squawk on snow

like birds singing to one another, a playful tune,
a seductive trill, or just a friendly chat. Just then,
I saw two men strolling by, holding mittened hands.

I thought about reading the poems, but I couldn’t look 
away from the men as they passed by. All over town,
there are men, single and kind. None of them are mine.

Jacob Butlett received an honorable mention for the 2023 Academy of American Poets Prize (Graduate). His work can be found in Colorado Review, The Hollins Critic, and Lunch Ticket, among other places. Published by Kelsay Books in 2024, Stars Burning Night’s Quiet Rhapsody is Jacob’s debut book of poems.