ode to the girl in my homeroom who only speaks french

she came up behind me one day & tapped me on the shoulder

i spun on my heel, unsteady, a dumb american consistently

ashamed of my language

she pointed at my face and drew a heart in the air with her thumbs

beautiful she said in her jam-thick accent far sweeter

than my own and she smiled with her teeth and i felt

my cheeks flush with a grin and that is ultimately

the best compliment i will ever receive, from someone

i can't say a word to otherwise,

and isn't that just about the saddest beautiful thing?

image of green lilac bushes with white lilac flowers standing against a bright blue sky

OverTheRainbow

VT

12 years old

More by OverTheRainbow

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  • Fiction

    By OverTheRainbow

    The East Wind

    The East Wind is a rabbi in a darkened shul. He sits pored over the Torah scroll long into the night, his back bent like a cane. People come and go and come again, whispering prayers for the needy, the hungry, the sick.

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  • Poetry

    By OverTheRainbow

    hoping for snow

    I walk home wearing twin braids with bows

    and a big smile because I'm wishing for snow.

    Snow like a blanket, thick and white,

    I want it to fall all through the night -

    to cover the roads and the trees and the hills,

    Read More