Pop Punk Therapy (Kristen’s Version) by Kristen Rosasco

One Poem Only · Sep 9, 2025 · 5m

Pop Punk Therapy (Kristen’s Version)

Kristen Rosasco

I. THIRTY, FLIRTY, AND DEEPLY UNWELL

They told me thirty would feel like

freedom—

like a crisp Chardonnay in an overpriced glass,

like a mortgage,

like knees that don’t audibly crack

when you squat down to pick up the crumbs

of your twenty-something mistakes.

But I’m here in my room—

a room that is covered in crumbs even though there is a strict no food upstairs rule,

A room that eerily resembles my teenage bedroom that thankfully still only lives in my memory

Well, sort of… *gestures vaguely*

I’m still having a mental breakdown in my…