By Anne Christelle Chery

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This poem is about my complicated, love-hate relationship with worry.

I swing my legs over my bed
I have to get ready for the day.
I set out my bowl,
it’s dirty
I clean it
Instant oatmeal isn’t instant enough
I look in the fridge I think I’ll just have yogurt today
I wash my bowl again
I contemplate but it’ll just take too long to make,
1:20 on the microwave feels like an eternity
when you’re late.
Instead
I eat a bowl of worry,
the edges of the w’s and the pointy ends of the y’s are sharp, 
they are hard to chew and they upset my stomach. 
The o’s with their round shape should be easier to go down but they are stuck, 
they don’t want to move. 
The r’s rebel
the curvy parts lodge in my throat and they threaten to climb back up. 
Before I leave the house, I’ll pack my umbrella in case it rains 
I have to wash up
I tried to wash yesterday away but it stained skin I can only try to hide. 
I do my hair, 
and I can’t help it but I put my worry on my face. 
I put some light worry on my eyelids, and I carefully paint the worry on my lips, 
I tie it all up by brushing some worry on the apples of my cheeks. 
I get dressed in my worry and I wear worry on my feet. 
Before I head out the door I check my list for my worry. Have I got my worry, check. Have I got my worry for the train, check. Have I got my worry for the store. 
Surely, I need my worry before I head out the door.
Where's my worry for school…When I get to school I’m ill prepared. It was a sunny day.
How do I better prepare for this… 
I know I’ll worry some more.

Process

I’ve always disliked poetry, so I challenged myself to write a poem. I’ve been working on “Check” with my mentor for a while now, and every time we’ve met we’ve approached it from a different angle. “Check” is about the anxiety I experience everyday so I’ve written from my perspective, from the perspective of the anxiety, and I’ve even tried writing check as a song. One of my goals for this year was to submit to a publication and here I am doing so.