Stuart Gunter is a finalist of Streetlight Magazine’s 2019 Poetry Contest.

Finish these sentences to express your true feelings:
I always wanted to be intelligent, maybe a college
professor, or a poet. Some kind of scientist.
I can’t believe I have ended up here: mediocrity.
If my father would only rise from the dead.
People think of me as intimidating and selfish. Maybe
they don’t even think of me. Or they think of me
as some kind of rotten fruit in the bottom of the fruit
drawer, with a hint of mold and sweet onion.
I suffer most from myself. Where did I go?
What upsets me most is your silence.

Stuart Gunter is working toward a Master’s Degree in Mental Health Counseling and lives in Schuyler, Virginia. He likes to paddle the Rockfish River and play drums in obscure rock bands.