How do you speak
When you spend every minute
Scrutinizing
Every word
You are
Or will
Say
Even in front of your friends?

“Write”
-he says-
So that you may never forget.

Let the footprints
of your path
be the words
you once wrote.

Fill the white sheets
of paper
With rainbow colored
Ink.

Red
for love
Blue
for sorrow
Yellow
for happiness

Write about
The beach you once went to
The stars you see
The future only you can imagine

Write about
Love,
Loss,
HIM.
Write about him.
Write anything.

“Just write”
-he says-
Write so that you may never be forgotten.

I turned off
The poetry hose
For a short while
When I noticed
It was getting
Contaminated
By
A substance known as
“Social insecurity”
Hey,
...
Have you ever been poisoned by it?

She told me she was tired
About,
How her mom compared
Her to every other
Kid out there
Doing more
Doing better
About,
How sports five days a week
School
And clubs to boot
Was a bit much
Personally, I somewhat know what she means
But,
Being somewhat past
That stage myself
I don’t know what to say

She tells me
About her sleep deprivation
Iron deficiency
Sleepwalking
Lack of hunger
Problems
Problems
Problems
With which I could relate
Not one single bit
I listened
But I didn’t say much
Soon enough though
I
Just
Stopped

She told me about
Her latest crush
In her constant
Stream
Since seventh grade
Voice
Partially whiny
Partially one the verge
Of tears
I really couldn’t relate
Much
But,
It was kinda interesting
Plus I valued her
Friendship
A certain degree
So I listened
And gave comfort
Until in came someone
Who could do it better

We’re all self obsessed
To a certain degree

It really depends
How interested we are
How much we care about the person
How caring we are
In general
Many factors
...
But sometimes,
Especially with a problem
That we can’t fix
For them
Or even help
...
It can be really hard
To have empathy

A rather melancholic scent
Enters its way
Into my nostrils
Papers
Loads of them
Straight from the printer
The ruffling
The shuffling
They studying

Episodes of
Phineas and Ferb
Strawberries
And chocolate chip cookies
Unbrushed hair
Thrown in pigtails
Curled up on a couch
My childhood
Blown away in the breeze

She insisted he had a crush
On me
He insisted he did
Not
I
Kept my nose
In my book