after Rachel Wiley

Did you cry when you watched The Notebook?
How many women have you believed?
Do you believe that boys will be boys?
When’s the last time you called your mother?
Would you be ashamed if she read your tweets?
How long would you mourn me after I die?
Have you ever had a mullet?
Are you business in front of coworkers and a party at the back of the bar?
How many times in a row do you sneeze?
Do you prefer cats or dogs?
Are you allergic to cats?
On a scale of tolerate to lay down and die, how much do you love cats?

Have you ever ghosted anyone?
Do you continue to haunt them?
If I tell you the thing I’m most ashamed of about myself, will you:
(a) run; (b) bring it up during every argument we have; or (c) love me anyway.
How long can you hold a grudge for?
Will you ever hold our relationship hostage?
Will I be able to afford the ransom?
Do you believe “that a woman’s temple gives her the right to choose?”
Do you listen to Frank Ocean?
Do you listen to the Pacific Ocean?
How did your last relationship end?
How will this one end?

Tharani Balachandran is a first-generation Canadian, lawyer, tea enthusiast, reader of books, lover of gossip, and writer of poems who lives on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen peoples in Victoria, British Columbia.  Her work has appeared in the Racket Journal, Anti-Heroin Chic, Quail Bell and Fine Lines.  She recently self-published her debut chapbook, Love in the Time of Corona.