Paula Harris | Your doctor, your mentor, your lecturer, your flatmate, those two guys you kinda knew at your friend’s party, the guy who came around to fix your computer when it picked up some malware, your uncle, the police officer you asked for help because you really needed help, your dentist, your ex-boyfriend, the guy who lives over the road who has a friendly cat, the author whose book you’ve read seven times, your electrician, your best friend, your psychiatrist, your boss, the bouncer at that bar you like, the guy behind the counter at your favourite café, your Tinder date, a politician, a lawyer, the businessman you chatted with at an After Five function, the taxi driver who took you from the airport to your house, your cousin, your best friend’s brother, your best friend’s cousin, your husband, the waiter at that restaurant that serves really amazing desserts, your dad, your personal trainer | Poets Resist

Paula Harris lives in New Zealand, where she writes poems and sleeps in a lot, because that’s what depression makes you do. She won the 2018 Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize and the 2017 Lilian Ida Smith Award, and her chapbook I make men like you die sweetly will be published in September 2019 by dancing girl press. Her poetry has been published in various journals, including Berfrois, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Barren, SWWIM, Glass, The Spinoff and Landfall. She is extremely fond of dark chocolate, shoes and hoarding fabric.

Paula Harris’s Website.

Paula Harris on Twitter

Also by Paula Harris: a warning to lovers the secret of the universe That one time I spent Christmas with Alison Holst

Previously in Glass: A Journal of Poetry: after the deaths, bees will collect pollen from the flowers

Poets Resist
Edited by Kanika Lawton
June 13, 2019

Paula Harris

Your doctor, your mentor, your lecturer, your flatmate, those two guys you kinda knew at your friend’s party, the guy who came around to fix your computer when it picked up some malware, your uncle, the police officer you asked for help because you really needed help, your dentist, your ex-boyfriend, the guy who lives over the road who has a friendly cat, the author whose book you’ve read seven times, your electrician, your best friend, your psychiatrist, your boss, the bouncer at that bar you like, the guy behind the counter at your favourite café, your Tinder date, a politician, a lawyer, the businessman you chatted with at an After Five function, the taxi driver who took you from the airport to your house, your cousin, your best friend’s brother, your best friend’s cousin, your husband, the waiter at that restaurant that serves really amazing desserts, your dad, your personal trainer

Semi-found poem, inspired by Emily Writes' essay "What does a rapist look like?" Question: Who is raping us?