❝
I’ve got a heart and they can’t have it, but they give me a certificate in exchange and I think I accept. I am a whore for attention and I spread my legs as wide as my mouth.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
My poor parents. The shit I put them through. It’s not fair, I suppose, but they’d be bored otherwise.
I am the reason I don’t want to have kids.
I am the reason I don’t want to have kids.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
There are only so many ways to rearrange twenty-six letters. You can put that into a formula. You can make writing a science or math.
My words don’t connect and make sentences or thoughts. Maybe it’s the weather. The rain. The rain always leads to trouble.
My words don’t connect and make sentences or thoughts. Maybe it’s the weather. The rain. The rain always leads to trouble.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
Paul Revere
took off his tricorner hat
and a boy
kissed his forehead
unsurprisingly
he screamed
“the British are come—”
but his mouth was muffled with
fingertips
sometimes I can’t count all
the buttons on his coat
or the distance between
Lexington
and Concord
(guns are stored
in my stomach
and lungs)
they are trying to get inside me.
he is trying to warn them.
and I am trying to forget.
— Zoe Trope, (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
And sometimes, if I listen closely enough, I can’t hear anything at all.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
I’m sorry for all the really great lies I’ve told.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
this is just a drill
we are just playing pretend
in case of fire
in case of earthquake
in case of nuclear holocaust
crawl under your desk
cover your head
the security guards will check for compliance
go out to the parking lot
blast the radio
dance while you wait for
the world to end
when the bell sounds
when they wave you back in
shuffle your feet across the pavement
squeeze inside
this is just a drill
we are just playing pretend
sit down at your desk
this is just a drill
open your notebook
we’re just pretending
do problems #8-16
in case of fire
take out a sheet of paper
in case of earthquake
use a pencil
in case of nuclear holocaust
write your name at the top
crawl under your desk
crawl under your desk
wait for the world to end
wait
we’re just pretending.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
They yell and hug and celebrate the fact that they’ve grown up and they’ve done so much and it’s all been so hard and I watch very, very quietly. If I’m quiet enough, maybe I can slip away and I won’t have to do it too.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
I cried very, very hard today. Gasping, chocking sobs that I couldn’t talk through. My brother asked me what was wrong, what happened. ‘I’m just sad,’ I told him.
I am not right. I am not right.
I am not right. I am not right.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
❝
I am trying not to drown. I am trying to bloom. Please don’t kill the flowers.
— Zoe Trope (Please Don’t Kill the Freshman)
