“Lake Michigan” by Elle Pugh

Dead Poets Society

My mom has the tape

So I watch the first half

And take a long break

There’s nothing to do here but watch the waves

Constantly refreshing your Facebook page

When Harry Met Sally

I typed out a text

But got lost in our old conversations instead

A graveyard of memories but I stay indoors

And try to delete everything that you ignored

The Breakfast Club

Meets next to my bed

When that tape is over

I’ll put the next in

And watching it until I can feel my eyes shutting

And when I wake I’ll watch ​Good Will Hunting

But I don’t see why

Why I can’t sleep at night

Why the weight behind my eyes

Never lifts

Lake Michigan’s a gift

It keeps on giving

I don’t know what of me is still living

The nearest good hospital is two hours away

Long enough to make a stupid mistake

Isn’t it imaginative?

Aren’t you bored?

Do you think I could hurt myself

With the TV Cord?

Elle Pugh is a writer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She is pursuing a career in television writing