An Impossible Friend?
An Impossible Friend?
Do you remember that tall tree
with the wide trunk and knotted roots?
The one that stood alone in the middle
of a wide field that seemed to stretch for miles?
No? You don't?
Well, it was an apple tree.
And like all apple trees,
most of the good fruit was up high
where no one could reach.
In the summer,
I would climb it, clutching each branch like my life
depended on it.
I could've sworn the tree helped me reach the top.
Perhaps lifting me.
I would dig my teeth into the sweet, juicy apples
with my back leaning against the tree trunk.
I could go as far as to say that we formed
an impossible friendship.
Me and an apple tree.
The tree even knew my name ... Kinda.
I had etched it onto its bark with a sharp rock.
I remember coming home to my family,
talking about my adventures.
They would smile and nod.
But after months of such stories,
we had a talk about imaginary friends
and how I should instead try to find
real, human ones.
I would throw a fit
saying my tree was the only friend I needed.
One autumn evening, I was riding my bike past the
never-ending field when I did a quick double take.
The tree wasn't in its usual spot.
In fact, it wasn't there at all.
Not a stump.
Not a twig,
Not a leaf.
I remember running through the field
eyes watering, telling myself that it couldn't be gone.
Weeks passed by.
I did end up finding real friends.
And of course, even to them
I would describe the adventures I
had with the perfectly climbable tree.
I told them how unfair I thought it was
that it had to be cut down.
They would look at each other
and express their confusion.
One of my friends, you, told me
that your mother worked near that field.
You remarked that you've never seen
a large apple tree
standing alone in the middle of that field.
So, that's when I began to wonder.
Was the tree my impossible friend,
or an imaginary friend?
Or just nothing at all?
It had felt so real.
How the bark felt on my fingers.
The taste of the perfectly sweet apples.
How the leaves would fall
and form a blanket of orange at its roots.
But even if it was in fact imaginary,
I knew the tree would always be a second home,
and even an impossible friend.
The Voice
September 2025
Our Love is Made Up of Wings
There are hundreds Of thousands Of wings in our world, Each one a simple perfection Dancing in the spotlight Of the sun, Twirling under the glitter Speckled by the stars; It is a belief of mine That ...
A Single Sentence Letter to Our Daughters
i think i know why aliens haven't visited us. they're definitely watching with rapt attention, waiting to see how we climb the highest wall humanity built for ourselves in the past half century. i'd l...
A Dream At What Cost
at the bottom of my bag is a book, lying there like a security blanket I'm afraid to touch. my seat feels cold as ice as I sit down in the room where not one pen or pencil is seen in sight, because th...
Declan.
Last night at work, I had a bit of a panic attack. Something like that, something similar. You don’t really know while you’re in it, why it happens, but the reasons were there, and I know them now. 1)...
An Impossible Friend?
Do you remember that tall tree with the wide trunk and knotted roots? The one that stood alone in the middle of a wide field that seemed to stretch for miles? No? You don't? Well, it was an apple tre...
Wendy Darling
I hung in the sky, frowning down at the city below me Scowling because Peter Pan went away. I had stretched, and my body had run away In the years since then. The night said to me, “You were only thi...
The Stone and the River
They said to think about who you are And who you want to be After camp And I thought What if I don’t know The changes I want to happen to me? What if change Is best Faced like the wind Whipping at you...
Paradox
Love is a paradoxical thing. I want desperately to be loved. I want to wake up to a "good morning, my favorite person" text. I want the last thing I see at night to be a little red heart emoji. I want...
The Pain of Broken Friendship
A mini-canvas of me and her in a faceless painting style lies face down in the corner of my bookshelf. It took a month or two to turn over, but I still have the canvas. We made it at her house during ...
Independence on Rollerblades
these shoes feel like wings. i am f l y i n g across the newly grooved pavement, balancing on pink wheels and scraped knees and a perfect morning whispering you won't fall. someday i wi...
Every July 4th
Every July 4th, I wonder why we do this. Why we stand on the sides of the streets, watching little children hold their arms out for candy, gazing at the police cars and fire trucks rolling by in tande...
Quick on the Draw
You love me fast, miss me faster, I ran to you, now running away takes much longer. To get to you was almost all down hill, just an inbreath and an outbreath or two, but the climb is ahead, it is ahe...
True Family
Family wears many faces— For some, it’s warmth and comfort, For others, it’s silence or storm. Often, we search for it in strangers, Bound not by blood, But by soul. The lucky ones find a true family....
The Cosmic Expanse
I have always been fascinated by space and all it encompasses. I don't know exactly why, maybe because of the unknown and wanting to understand it, thus making it known. Or maybe because whenever I lo...
What Our World Could Be
In a chaotic world of eight billion people, each hidden away in their own separate lives, be remembered for being the person who brings others joy, who makes people smile, who can brighten someone’s d...