By Yoda Olinyk
after Maggie Smith
I made this place beautiful
for me. Before here, I made a different place beautiful
for someone else. I made this place beautiful
because sometimes I feel ugly.
After I moved in, my landlord told me this house
is haunted. The ghost of the old tenant
(I call him Gord) roams my halls.
The kettle falls to the floor out of nowhere.
My dog barks for no reason.
The lights sometimes flicker.
The shower curtain is often inexplicably tangled.
A haunted place can be
a beautiful place
and thank God… that is good news
for my heart.
Yoda Olinyk (she/her) is a Canadian memoirist embracing her bratty inner child while showing up on the page as your friend, foe, lover, and occasionally, your crazy ex-girlfriend. Yoda believes poetry should reveal our sharp corners and writes mostly about addiction, recovery, grief, shame, and is currently working on a book about reproductive rights in Canada. Her hope is to include more joy in her work and life. In the last year, Yoda’s poems have been published with Button Poetry, SamFiftyFour, Third Iris, Sky Island Journal, Free Verse, and Quail Bell. Yoda works full-time as a writing coach and book doula, and also wrote a full-length, best-selling memoir called ‘Salt & Sour’. You can find more of Yoda’s work at www.doulaofwords. You can find her on Twitter: @yodaolinyk and on Instagram: @doulaofwords
