Tonight's Poet Corner: Adopt A Friend

Adopt A Friend
by Belinda Roddie


If you drag your sneakers through the
melted asphalt of Fifteenth Avenue, you'll
find the Adopt-A-Friend Center riddled with
wreaths from last Christmas and cheap gaudy
white lights, with a sign too bright to be
looked at by the human eye. When you

go to the front desk, a twenty-something girl
with a 'tude and nice boobs will ask for your
name, age, social security number, and
all your feeeeeeeeeeelings.
Yeah. You want someone to

swing on swings with? Nah, less
seven-year-old bliss. Ice cream never
gets old, though. Movie nights?
Chugging pitchers of beer? Too bro?
Nah, man. Maybe someone you can
hold hands with without being called
lovers. A shared smile. A cup of
homebrewed coffee. A simple text message.
A nod. A hug. Straightforward.
Doesn't need

the credentials of a hipster, or the
potential to be a musical genius.
You don't need smart, or strong, or brave.
You just want someone you can find
sitting at the bus stop, reading a
magazine, waiting to adopt a friend
just like you.