The Crab - Sabrina Herrmann

Who am I? Who have I been?

Who do I want to be?

My name is Sabrina Herrmann

my initials sound like

‘essay’ if you say them fast enough

I am writer.

Lover of coffee and books

born on July 16th

the stars tell me I’m a Cancer.

My therapist tells me I have

severe anxiety.

I tell her, “Anna it’s hard not to

when your moods fluctuate with the moon.”

That’s what the stars tell me

but I’m starting to think I use that

as an excuse for my bad behavior.

Don’t tell her.

Sometimes I get scared

of intimacy, snakes, certain dogs,

and other people’s opinion of me.

UK researchers say crabs have feelings.

I am a crab disguised as a human

again, that’s what the stars tell me.

I’m made up of 75% water

I feel it all. I have been a child who

watched the Olympics and dreamed of

being in them. I have been someone

my parents regret buying a soccer ball for

after kicking it through our front window.

I wrote my first

poem in second grade about a Libra

and I swore I’d be a poet

Mom asked, “What happened to soccer?”

I told her it’s okay to have more than

one dream.

I want to be someone who sees

the good in everyone but knows

when it’s time to stay

and when it’s time to go.

I want to be brave. Someone who doesn’t have

to carry her armor everywhere she goes.

I want to be someone who folds

the laundry fresh out of the dryer

and dusts the floorboards every Sunday.

Who learns how release sad memories

and can wash out the sour taste

past lovers have left in her mouth.

I am a lot

I have always been a lot

I want to be enough.

---

Sabrina Herrmann is an emerging writer who just completed an independent study at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City. She graduated from New York University with a BS in Business and is applying to MA programs to study English Literature. Her work has been featured in Wingless Dreamer and she resides in Bentonville Arkansas with her family and miniature dachshund.