The September 2007 poetry project consists of writing one poem per day in the month of September and putting it up for public consumption regardless of its state of completion.

Poem 20. three days

Finishing the doctorate

is scarier than getting married.

I have been engaged to my thesis

for ten years.

Now we are going to tie the knot.

In three days.

I can't wait.

I also can't believe it.

I will start a new life,

with a new name.

Titled, bedecked with an honor

of ten years of labor.

And for our honeymoon,

I am going to take the day off

Tuesday.

By Wednesday,

life will go on

and I will be back at work

and still need to lose five pounds

and still have to walk the dog

every morning at 6:30 a.m.

and still feel uncomfortable

around strangers

and argue with my mother

over my clothes and hair,

and I will still not have a boyfriend

in three days.

©Rachel Levine 2007