Resolution

Look, it isn’t necessary
to be good all the time. When you’re alone
especially, sometimes it’s OK
to sneeze into your hands

or to watch from behind the shades until
the Jehovah’s Witnesses go away
or to toss the charity mailing unread
but keep the address labels, or to nap

on the pile of clean laundry even
after 6 p.m., wrinkles be damned
and sleep rhythms too, and not to think
you’d think any more of yourself if you didn’t

do these things, that it would save you
from writer’s block and depression,
the common cold and losing seasons
if, when you watched your team blow a lead,

you said, That’s OK, out loud
to yourself. They’ll get it next time. No—
let it be resolved: sometimes you must
rise up out of your seat to hurl

an empty beer can at the TV
like some dumbass you’d hate and allow
yourself a minute before cleaning up
the dribble without thinking of anyone

thinking, What a dumbass, because
you’re the only one in the room.

Katie Herman is a poet and freelance book editor living in Brooklyn, NY. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in journals including BODY, LEVELER, and Poetry Northwest. She can be found at www.katieherman.net.