Leah Mueller

Trade-Offs

I paid 79 bucks to check my suitcase,
and Frontier Airlines
broke one of the wheels, claiming
my damage was due to extreme turbulence,

but I slept through most of that flight
and made it through intact.

I was returning from
the AWP writer’s conference–
a thinly veiled, non-stop commercial
for various MFA programs.

Would I have a hoity-toity writing style
if I paid thousands for an advanced degree,
and would the turnstiles of literature
swing open for me at last?

Would I be ushered into panels,
while enraptured would-be novelists

sat in uncomfortable folding chairs,
awaiting my well-rehearsed opinions?
Ah, to be put up in the finest Doubletree Inn,
with free Uber rides throughout the city.

Instead, I must worry about a 
fucking $79 charge
and my broken suitcase from Marshall’s.

I guess it beats a lot of
other things I could be doing,
but not by much.