‘I need to stop being on the internet’
— Hannah Cohen
but my legs still shake uncontrollably
into dark nights and loneliness
A poem about an abusive partner, this light yet heavy poem explores the before and aftermath of being with someone who unfortunately exists online and IRL. What I’ve enjoyed the most about Taylor’s poems (seriously, read OOOO, it’ll make you want to read it over and again) is that they communicate all those complicated feelings in a beautiful, far-beyond manner.
The destructiveness of masculinity in this poem can be read in images such as “cowboys playing”, “beer”, “cock”—here, Taylor doesn’t need to give you an entire summary of the hurtful person. Despite the very physical actions of touching, drinking, and laughing, “I need to stop being on the internet” ends on the act of not forgiving the violence due to the speaker’s own body still suffering. Like Taylor, we’ve all been there, and perhaps that’s what makes this work so painfully relevant.