My Next Girlfriend
Glenda McDannell
My next girlfriend will love me more than I love her.
She’ll smell like incense.
She’ll let me smoke, while she tells me
how much she wishes I didn’t.
She’ll have a short pixie haircut and a nose ring.
Tattoos will cover her body with the places she’s been.
A map of Palestine
will cover the expanse of her back.
Beautiful,
she’ll be beautiful.
She’ll want to try new churches every Sunday
and critique religion at lunch.
My next girlfriend will teach yoga at the place down the street.
She'll hate fighting.
She’ll make me try new things
and want to visit the beach all the time.
She’ll have a cute name, like Olive or Claire.
And my parents will have no other choice but to love her.
My next girlfriend will love getting flowers.
She’ll love to garden.
She’ll love women.
A woman that loves women,
go figure.
I won’t be her experiment
or an instrument for personal validation.
She’ll be my safety net.
My salvation will lie in her love
and I will finally
be okay.
She’ll smell like incense.
She’ll let me smoke, while she tells me
how much she wishes I didn’t.
She’ll have a short pixie haircut and a nose ring.
Tattoos will cover her body with the places she’s been.
A map of Palestine
will cover the expanse of her back.
Beautiful,
she’ll be beautiful.
She’ll want to try new churches every Sunday
and critique religion at lunch.
My next girlfriend will teach yoga at the place down the street.
She'll hate fighting.
She’ll make me try new things
and want to visit the beach all the time.
She’ll have a cute name, like Olive or Claire.
And my parents will have no other choice but to love her.
My next girlfriend will love getting flowers.
She’ll love to garden.
She’ll love women.
A woman that loves women,
go figure.
I won’t be her experiment
or an instrument for personal validation.
She’ll be my safety net.
My salvation will lie in her love
and I will finally
be okay.
About the author

Glenda McDannell, 22, is a Lesbian from a small town called Yucaipa. She is currently attending Azusa Pacific University, a private Christian School, where she studies sociology. She has plans for activism in the near future, after she graduates. She is passionate about writing because words are power. She wishes to spread social change through writing.