Meeting His Friends: A List, by Olivia Snowdrop

i laugh too loud at their jokes
show them a screenshot i took
earlier and i feel like the youngest
person in the room i’m the youngest
person in the room i take the board
game too seriously rib my boyfriend
and it gets quiet and uncomfortable
because they don’t know i’m
pretending can’t sense the sarcasm
i didn’t tell it right whatever it might
be they’re looking at me like i’m an
alien i could be an alien i whisper
the name of the suit in cards i find
this conversation hard the one where
they talk about work so i lurk as the
fern in the corner until it’s over and
i can breathe they don’t have the same
political views as me sighs from my
partner when they mention police
because he can tell what i’m thinking
drinking only one drink drinking only
a single with orange juice grown up
baby feel tipsy need a water need to pee
we stand up to leave because i can’t use
other people’s bathrooms and say thank you
thank you for tolerating me

 

Published 1st of September 2022

 

About Olivia Snowdrop

Olivia Snowdrop is a queer non-binary poet from Manchester, UK. They are the author of two self-published poetry books: Snowdrop, and their latest collection, ANTS IN A JAM JAR. Olivia is also active on Instagram as @oliviasnowdrop and has been previously published in Honeyfire Literary