Poetry

I am sad

sad to not have weekly meetings with you

I am nervous

nervous of what I'll be doing this weekend

I am excited

excited to show off, to show my friends and family this tradition

I am apprehensive

Our last meeting

I rehearsed my part

I read my speech

you looked on with pride

I'm proud, too

I can sing and read in a different language

from ancient scroll with no vowels that sort of smells bad

The sun didn’t kiss these boys

It hugged them

The way you would with your best friend before

Leaving for a long time

It hugged them and

It made their skin the color of a caramel

And their hair like the sand

One message 

An Instagram notification in my inbox from an unfollowed account 

I never get DMed

Opening was the worst possible choice I could've made

It was kindergarten

specifically May 4th, 2018, to be exact

we had just moved into our new house

I had been at the after-school program that day

My music collection

a small window of tunes that I appreciate

songs that loosen my ties to the ground

that free me to chase the clouds

and they may not be popular

or good party music;

they have taken her.

hope.

she is trapped in the great big house made of new money & keys

that open nothing anymore. it is named america.

you can hear her,

I am grateful.

Grateful that three no-longer-kids,
Grown-up,

Jobs-and-girlfriends-and-college boys

Are there for me

Have my back

Even though we haven’t talked for a while

Even though we live hours away

We are such a cliché,

boy meets girl,

fall hard and fast.

Our heads are a mess,

would you wait for me?

Obviously.

Too young to think anything through,

I remember that warm summer night,

we argued about who could jump farther off the swings,

we were only 14.

It down poured,

they didn't set the fireworks off,

you didn't care,

neither did I.

I’ve been going to a camp called Crow's Path since 3rd grade. 

And even longer before that but I can’t remember those days. 

People have come and gone yes that’s true,

And some stay and some move on,

An apple is

A reminder

A token to bring you back

To the day in the orchard

When you were six years old

Sitting on your dad's shoulders

Reaching for an apple

That you had decided was perfect