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I have been told

To put curl cream in my hair

Upside down, eyes 

Straining against the ceiling light,

Curls straining toward the tile floor,

Bunching.

I will smell

I'm wearing the same dress I wore last year, on an evening that felt like moonlight even though the sky was still a milky purple-blue by the time we left, arms linked, laughter spilling over each other and turning the air fragrant, because back th

Today I thought I looked pretty

It must have been a trick of the light

I can't fall asleep in this city

I wish that you'd come stay the night.

Last week I talked to you for hours

sing to me.

i've been a stranger once more

to your hills and valleys, to the

gaps of sunlight between your grasping evergreens.

i've been a stranger

to the red barn

you've felt

the brambles and sweat, 

the curl of berry-stained lips.

you've seen

the cornflower sky stolen

by a red-orange river,

the evening still thick

with lightning bugs and laughter.

her voice sounded heavy to her, filled

with the unnamed emotion

everyone had told her to expect. except

she hadn't. she'd rolled

her eyes at the shiny pamphlets and blog posts