99 Problems

1. Playing house I was adopted
2. or the dog
3. I understood
4. They made me the wild creek
between Class Clown & Most Unique
5. The chocolate ________
6. One afternoon the dog killed
a bird in our garage
7. He brought it to my feet
8. In the Bible every wing is real
9. I could be a witch
10. Dating
11. Dating
12. It is impossible to always be touching
13. Two-hundred-fiddy to unpack this
14. Sixty a bag to heal
15. Inhale/heal
16. Oppression
17. Oppression
18. Oppression
19. Oppression
20. Defense
21. Teaching
22. Listening
23. Never knew him
24. Nana packed the slow car alone
25. Picked six honey-heads from school
26. Drove til the sky turned
27. a new state
28. I don’t know anything else
29. It doesn’t matter
30. I wake up not
sure I want to
31. I don’t know how to explain
every wish is an ice cube
I swallow whole
32. It is important for me to say I’m OK
33-35. Fucked a white boy
36-42. American History
43. Where are you from?
44. Prozac Weight
45. Thomas and I got pulled over
in Bed-Stuy last Saturday night
46. We were in the back of a cab
47. Taxes
48. The wilting planet
49. Sometimes I forget to take my pills
50. I do it on purpose
51. I can't feel anything
52. A clean body like a lake
I’m some shit bodies sunk into
53. Prison Industrial Complex
54. Nonprofit Industrial Complex
55. Marriage Industrial Complex
56. Landlords
57. "Nigger"
58. OKCupid
59. White Saviors
60. Karaoke
61. Limited cocktail shrimps
62-70. Please check all that apply: panic attacks
hopelessness decreased socialization guilt
general overwhelming stress suicide attempts
71. Are you OK?
72. Tyler Perry
73. Hangovers
74. The western concept of Time
75. Food deserts
76. James Franco
77. OK I drank too much
78. again
79. It is impossible to always be taking a lavender bath
80. Men at intersections
81. Men in smoky formations
82. Men in the waiting room
83. Men at Popeye’s
84. Men up my skirt
85. Mercury retrograde
86. My dog eats a lipstick
87. Subjectivity
88. No
89. Where are you from?
90. We lost the records
91. My real last name
92. Fitting in
93. Uninterested sex
94. Teacher called me Sheila
95. Sheila was the other black girl
96. Sheila hated me
97. What we mean by “come up”
98. Be strong
99. I’m tired