memories
have
value.
even
the
bad ones.
This is my (winning!) performance at the Tolland Public Library Poetry Slam.
Rain clicked softly on the metal cage of the bus on my way home from school. I thought carefully about how I miss you. I got into bed even though it was midafternoon. For some reason I think you did the same. Thunder started to roll just as I was drifting off to sleep. Briefly I misstook footsteps in the hallway to be yours. I was halfway to expecting you to climb into bed next to me and wrap your arms around my empty shoulders. I pictured your skin, translucent like parchment paper, pulled across your wrists. The places where your veins protrude are blue mountainscapes mapped out carefully, crawling up your arms. But even after all that thought, I still drifted off to sleep alone. I prayed to be given the chance to climb your mountains with my fingertips- even if it were only a dream.
I wake up to cars driving slowly past my window. Their engines roared over the thunder that still cracked every few minutes. I crossed my fingers, praying that you would be in one of those damn cars.
look at the mess you’ve made now.
