My Aunt Kelly and I have gone to Vermont almost every summer since I was in the fourth grade. This year, she really spoiled us and got us a hotel room at Stowe Mountain Resort; the room featured a balcony looking out over Mt. Mansfield. I cannot explain how awesome it felt to have a room with a balcony – I don’t think I ever want to live anywhere that doesn’t. I absolutely adore Vermont, so I was really surprised when life continued to feel so heavy even while I was there. This poem absolutely holds it’s own; I wrote it sitting on the balcony watching the rain over the mountain while there was some rain going on in my own mind.

Difficult Indifference is an apprentice poem that I wrote after reading Lisa Ferguson’s poetry collection, It’s Hard to Hate A Broken Thing. Ferguson’s poetry alluded to all different kinds of relationships and inspired me to think about some of the damaged relationships in my own life. As much as I keep trying to save my bestfriend from her marriage, I realize that maybe she isn’t ready to let it go, even if her marriage is abusive and detrimental to our friendship as well as her wellbeing. My friend refuses to recognize that her romantic relationship is broken; it has taken me awhile to realize that our friendship is broken in a lot of places, too. The honeybee reference brings the poem back to nature, keeping it simple. People farm bees, and sometimes seem to take the honey that they produce for granted – much like how my friend takes the support I constantly try to offer her for granted.