I Was Trying to Convince Myself That I Could Be Good for You
A celestial thumbprint
At the moment of birth
A still frame of the clockwork universe
Immutable laws of an infinite God
Omnipotence has short memory
And long life
Unleavened spirit
Like a starship in a bottle
Confined by imagined limitations
Self-imposed
&
Handed down
Like
Bad genes
&
Student loans
An inheritance
I’ve refuted
Not my birthright
As if
Anyone
is responsible for
Impressing
Their worth on
Anyone
But themselves
By Nathanael William Stolte
Biography:
Nathanael William Stolte is the author of four chapbooks, A Beggars Book of Poems, Bumblebee Petting Zoo, Fools’ Song & Unformed Creature. His poems have appeared in Ghost City Review, Guide to Kulture Creative Journal, Five-to-One Magazine #thesideshow, Rusty Truck Zine, Poems-For-All, The Buffalo News & Plurality Press. He is the Acquisitions Editor for CWPCollective Press. He was voted best poet in Buffalo by Artvoices’ “Best of Buffalo” in 2016. He is a madcap, punk-rock, D.I.Y. Buffalo bred & corn-fed poet