“Autopilot” Poem by A. Monahan

Alyssa Monahan is a creative writer who has a passion for flash fiction, short stories and poetry. In her spare time she prefers to play and make music, go on nature walks, watching her favorite shows on Hulu, and spending quality time with her partner and their three lovely cats.

Autopilot

Awareness,
fading in and out.
Say hi and wave.
Smile, don’t pout.
Don’t let them
think bad, or
that you’re mad.
Nevermind – hush
those thoughts.
Keep them quiet.
No one knows
I’m on autopilot.

Sweaty palms
catch me
off guard
but trying to
keep clarity
is really hard.
I try to focus on
my breathing,
but before I know
it – I start heaving.
Keep it cool.
Don’t start a riot.
No one knows
I’m on autopilot.

All I can do is
ride out the storm,
glide through as
the winds form.
Ripping through
my core, every
part of me is sore.
This is a
harsh climate
and nobody
is invited.
Yet no one knows
that I’m on autopilot.

From the Editor:

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Founded in late 2011, In Parentheses prides itself upon analysis of the current condition of intelligence in the minds of these young people, and building a hypothesis for one looming question: what comes after Post-Modernism?

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By In Parentheses in IP Volume 7

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Author: Mr. Phillipe

Phillipe Martin Chatelain / @uptownvoice / Phillipe is the Managing Editor of In Parentheses. He is a poet from New York City with a Masters Degree in Poetry from The New School. He writes as someone in the tradition of the urban troubadour or the flaneur–wandering, taking notes. He believes that poetry of our generation has taken on a much more digital definition. Furthermore, it is important for New Modernist writers like those exhibited in In Parentheses Literary Magazine to assume the forms of media available in order to carry on the history of Sublime Art. His series taking shots alone was self-published in 2012-2015. The self-published collection FACETS (2019) is now available. View all posts by Mr. Phillipe