Reid@YWP

The snow was melting

when you talked to me

when they talked to you

when we stood with them

and their thinning perfume

their black backpacks

their straightened hair

their plans of the ride home.

A couple was shot in the city which I call home. Portland, Oregon. I learned the news right after I had gotten home from school. Had this really happened? Could it be true?

She carried around a lip gloss with her, reminiscent of jam and the fruits I used to eat in my youth. It appears darker in the bottle than on her lips, yet she says it is perfect the way it is.

You said today-

today was supposed to be a day of unity.

A day of unity for her.

But instead of having a day of unity 

that won't do anything in the long run-

Just stop!

i walked down the street
the streets i once used to know 
filled with regrets and heavy with burdens 
of what once happened here

i walked down the street 
a block or so down 

Grass grows. 

It gets trampled into the dirt 

until it is dirt. 

It disintegrates and decomposes and falls 

apart, 

into the soil.