Jason for Day 18

I’m further behind than Jen Knox, and I always will be

After all, what do you say when the girl next to you
in grad school has already been in Best American Poetry?
What do you say to the girl who remembers to keep
her chin tucked when she rolls out of a moving car,
who knows thirty ways to mix a martini with olives,
who gives you the recipe to lemon cardomom ice cream
and even gives you the lemons? When she says
I’m behind, I say, I’m behind-er. When she says who’s got
my back, I say, I’m right here, as always, right behind you.