Funny girl

Inspired by Jessica Joyce.


I’m wearing the same coat I was on the night I met you

You step down to the sound

of stockbrokers and pundits on the television news

Our friends can’t believe how we look so good together

Whiskey and white wine, “go easy, kid,” and no real precautionary measure

All dressed up on the dance floor next to you

You’ll remember me in a hot dream

I’ll remember you in the pages in between

You’ll remember me in how we dance

Even though you never really knew what it meant to me

Across the F-train platform, you are the most beautiful thing

I’ve ever seen, “What’s going on here?” you shout down the way

I don’t have a curfew anymore, it’s okay if it’s so loud you can’t even think

Got lost in a crowd, and you’ll take me home but I can’t even manage to ask

How are you not tired of watching me?

Take my hand, one last time, where I whisper

“Do you love me?”

And you say “It’s love at first sight”

I don’t mind the changing of the seasons

Up the elevator to the tenth floor

Twinkle lights, midnight coffee, and you take me to your room

You’re highly suspicious of my motives and I claim to be something I know you want

I promise bookstore aisles and Jeff Buckley and tire marks on the south-bound side of the I-95

interstate and the best you’ll ever have

throw off my coat and all my clothes onto the floor

it doesn’t hurt to say I want you

or to bury the history

even if you fell in love with someone else

Meghan Rainey

Meghan Rainey is an award-winning photojournalist, mass-transit advocate, retired prom queen, and all-around delight. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Shippensburg University in 2020. She is published by Hog River Press and Moss Puppy Magazine in 2024 and is represented by literary agent Laura Bradford. You can find her on Twitter (X), Instagram and Threads (@rhursday on all platforms) or at www.meghanrainey.com

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Why Such Keys Were Forged

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Six Centuries of Calling Your Name