“inheritance” by Abigail Ryan

From my mother I learned
To pick words clean,
To tear at sentences ’til they were chicken-bone smooth,
Split open, the marrow of their meaning oozing out.

From my father I learned
Thinking is all well and good,
But a fat lot of good it’ll do you in the real world!
The meaning of life won’t teach you how to grocery shop.

Abigail Ryan is a filmmaker, bibliophile, YouTuber and musician. You can usually find her in one of UGA’s libraries, browsing the stacks and avoiding eye contact.