God Says Yes to Me
—by Kaylin Haught
I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes—by Kaylin Haught
Poem#126 of the Poetry 180 project, written by Kaylin Haught, excerpted from “In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop” by Steve Kowit. In this poem, Kaylin Haught discovers permission to be “just exactly what you want to” and tells us the same, “Yes Yes Yes” … all the while having fun with the language and freedom of contemporary poetry … doing “just exactly what you want” …
The Poetry 180 project is hosted by Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2001-2003. The goal of the project is to make it easy for students to hear or read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year. These poems bring students a taste of the power of poetry to inspire and enrich our lives.
While the poems are copyrighted, permission is granted for use in connection with the Poetry 180 project. Bring them into a high school near you. Check out the website, and you will immediately want to share them too.
