Lisa Olstein is the author of four poetry collections: Radio Crackling, Radio Gone, winner of the Hayden Carruth Award; Lost Alphabet, a Library Journal best book of the year; Little Stranger, a Lannan Literary Selection; and Late Empire. In addition, she has published a book-length lyric essay, Pain Studies (Bellevue Literary Press, 2020). She teaches in the MFA programs at the University of Texas at Austin.

Three Poems

by Lisa Olstein


You Can Tell a Tiger by
Its Stripes

Baby plays in the tub with a net
and paddle toys. Swimmy frog
wins for speed. Swimmy dog
wins for distance, for persistence,
he will not stop. Sometimes
picking things up and putting them
down is enough. Baby says don’t
call me baby I’m fourteen
get out of the fucking bathroom please.

People on couch
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