I can’t write about it.
I can barely think
about that day on the bridge.

But thank you—
for letting me hug your dog.

You didn’t owe me kindness,
but you were still kind.

Today
With friends
We wandered up
A steep cobbled road
That was canopied by trees.
We happened to a wooded park
Where poetry was pressed into the stones.
You would have loved it there, and noticed
How the world was speaking with you.
Noticed through the air that those
Flowers my friends had
Called lavender, were
Just rosemary,
blooming.

You and nature get along well,
Blue skies, brown eyes, green thumb.
Have you seen the spirits lately,
Does the river ever ask about me?

Look outside this spring,
See sunlight shine away the winter,
After endless rain,
Dark soil calling new growth.

And if it feels like nature to you as well, lets
Reduce our distance, plant roots again,
Reuse our same old jokes, repeat our favorite dates,
Recycle all this love we have, it can be new and feel the same.

☐ Learn to play an instrument
☑ See the pyramids
☐ See the northern lights
☑ Have my first kiss
☑ Graduate High School
☐ Ride in a hot air balloon
☑ Fall in love
☑ Nap together
☑ Cook dinner together
☑ Try shrooms
☐ Make him breakfast in bed
☑ Build a snowman
☐ Couples dancing lessons
☑ Go camping together
☐ Make love in a blanket fort
☐ Go backpacking together
☑ Celebrate an Anniversary
☐ Kiss in the rain
☑ Watch a meteor shower together
☐ Take a spontaneous road trip together
☒ Make it work
☐ Have a new year’s kiss
☐ Earn his forgiveness
☐ Start a garden
☐ Raise a dog
☐ Raise a cat
☐ Share a house
☐ Make a home
☐ Plant a tree
☐ Get married
☐ Build a bookshelf by hand
☐ Slow dance in the kitchen
☐ Write a book
☐ Be a family
☑ Choose him again
☑ and again
☐ Be chosen back

I didn't know how to stay
without drowning.

I didn't know how to leave
without breaking.

I still see you,
in trees,
in songs,
in the words I almost say.

You were the life I nearly had.

Ouch, thinking about honesty
Is painful
Honesty about myself
Honesty about you
Honesty about us
Honestly, this poem isn't even a winner

I’ll have to try again
I hope we try again

I’m visiting places you’ve never been— Still I find you there.
It is beautifully sad to see you in everything. I want
Tears of joy, not regret, when I see orchids on my wedding day