3 | dialect

i know i’m nervous

its an automatic reaction, like

why did i say that? god i sound stupid

the words they, like, escape my throat

before i could even think and

it makes me feel like a valley girl, y’know, like

pretty and stupid, but without the pretty

or the ain’ts and y’alls 

‘cause of course i say y’all

or the way i, like, decide it’s more iconic

to say y’all’re and before i know it 

my friend’s making this awful southern accent

and it goes on for way too long

and it ain’t offensive to me, ‘cause 

i don’t sound like that

or the oh boys, the oh dears, the goodys

or when i start rambling ‘cause i forgot 

what i was gonna say but i hate the silence

so it comes out a garbled mess of 

so, like, i, um, so, um, like, i

and those are real words! 

i have said those before in that order

and my dad laughs and makes fun of me

or the fact that despite all of this, 

i don’t sound like how you’d expect someone who says these things to sound like

i don’t say y’all or ain’t with a southern accent

goody and oh boy don’t come out posh

like, so, um, aren’t said by a valley girl

i know i’m nervous

and when i’m nervous, 

my automatic reaction is—