S. J. made more than her husband by Chiara Polimeni (Italy, 28)

buy a haunted house
                          yes
check the ads’ page
and go for the most haunted
                of the most haunted houses
a glass of whiskey
        two of rum
are the kids still sleeping?
did I forget to turn off the stove?
                I’m sorry, honey
                may you light my cigarette?
        where was I?
ah, yes
buy a haunted house, darling
        I have to do laundry         go shopping
polish that cutlery that keeps laughing at my jokes
at my solitude         at the fat rolls I’m growing
at the money I can’t spend
                        because my husband
                        ​that son of a b-

buy a haunted house and
  bury your dolls in the garden
the stinky, moldy wallpaper
the cool stone of the staircase in the entrance
go inhabit the somber depth
of that eerie mansion
​pick the one with the ghost of the rich lady
       from New York               who couldn’t stop gambling
and was squashed by the butt of a zebra at the zoo
or the one bedeviled by the spirit of that motherless
little girl               who bore a child at 13
                     and whose rapist was awarded
                     ​The Best Man on Earth prize
they sure can spin a yarn or two
       write about them, darling
stay where you are and you might
as well stick a dagger
through your chest, honey
       is dinner ready? did you say goodbye?
a deranged lady
I know I am
              the kooky laugh of a
              too soon departed, brilliant author
still crazy though
who cares, anyway? I still made more than my husband


Chiara Polimeni is a Southern-Italian translator and language teacher. She believes in the power of the universe, magic and coffee. She still longingly thinks of her Tumblr blog from the 2010s. She writes because she's too lazy to speak.