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Phoebe Jan 2020
I scroll through pictures of us in the mountains and I hear her voice so clearly
Written on a crumpled page
Years since she left the flower city
For the glitter kind
And I only shone because of my honey gold hair
Not jewelry or bright eyes or highlight on sharp cheekbones
“I’m lost and I only knew myself when I was with you, and I was only with you when I went outside so I’m going kayaking in Alaska. I’m sorry I let myself get so lost. I’m sorry I made myself too hard to find.”
An apology in vain

I had already forgiven her.
I forgave her the moment she left me barefoot in a field because
I knew her heart once
And I knew she had to go

Girls like that, they grow up half money and half spirit
Bound to want to taste what paper can buy them at some point
And me, always in the field. Safe.
She left and I never blamed her and I still don’t

She makes contact now
“How are you??”

Oh, my dear.
I am living out the dream I worked for
Cried for
Laughed for
I cannot ask for anything else
My feet feel good at the school I’m at, do yours?

I scroll through pictures without me
Click on the girl with her instead, before she went to Alaska to lose herself and find herself again
(She didn’t have to, I could have told her exactly where she was. In the flowers by my hand all along)
And all of these girls are so lost and lonely

Money in New York and parties every night and ten thousand comments
And still, they couldn’t escape it
Couldn’t escape what we all feel

You can see it in their eyes
It’s the reflection of glitter
Golden fear

Go stand in a field, I want to say.
Go stand in a field and take off your shoes and rest.
Phoebe Dec 2019
Raindrops on the toe tips of brown leather shoes

It smells like I should be inside, reading.

She comes in a jeep I know well
and when she and I collide in a hug,
the engine still running
I can see the old thing winking at me like it knows
she is the steadiest ******* this planet

A fellow sunshine swallower
she chews up the moon
and eats the mountains, too
eats up all the blackness in  my chest, too

Two schools states away
she hugs the same, always.

Some things, the soul cannot forget, no matter how the hard the heart practicality begs it to
things like black motor oil water
like freckles against light green eyes
like the last time I saw her, the last time there were raindrops
on the toes of my brown leather shoes
and she drove away in that jeep
and I got on a plane

There is no other pain like heartbreak.

Heartbreak is not falling out of love, it is not loneliness
It is the addition of somebody else’s story in your mouth, with no one to tell it to;
Silence in it's worst form.

But as she stands here, holding me, it is quiet
quiet relief

Imagine it:
Raindrops on the toe tips of brown leather shoes
the smell of a grey afternoon
an old jeep
and a girl



--But she is states away again, today--
Phoebe Nov 2019
I don't like to read your words-

A wry smile, bittersweet.

They're too real, too mundane for a dreamer.

This, whispered to me.
What is that supposed to mean?
I was not born with wings
I am from this earth
What is that supposed to mean?

Would you rather me forget
about the blood stained teeth of an old god
the ruined smile of Grace

What is that supposed to mean?

I am not even a writer,
I am only living
and I have never once seen life
walking around without dirt in her nail beds.
Phoebe Nov 2019
This isn't to make you feel bad
it's just to explain
that I don't make compromises
because I know how quickly
a smile can swallow a girl whole
chew her up, spit her out
and keep on bearing perfect chiclit teeth.
So don't think you're pulling a fast one on me-
Let me tell you something: I have value and I am not for you to spend

"I thought"- What a dangerous phrase, goes both ways;
I thought they liked it/I though they wouldn't
Compromises desire and safety at the same time, corrupts them both
but the world moves and I've moved, and I'm older now, less compromising
now.

I don't care if you think I'm just another girl lighting things up
because I've ruined your good time
because you don't want to hear about "things like that"
I told you already, it's not to make you feel bad,
It's just my experience
it's just my life.

So, no, I won't sleep with you on the first date
and no, I won't feel bad about it.
Phoebe Nov 2019
Can you codify a feeling?

Is the question bouncing around
the study group meeting a few tables away
from where I write my government paper

I think maybe you can't
I think maybe that's what poetry is supposed to be for:
to codify feelings
to make a container for a color

the color words taste in my mouth
when they make my bones ache

the color that leaves when you leave
that leaves when I leave
that spoils when we both leave-

Can you codify a feeling?
No. I don't think so.
And I don't think you can codify two people either
so maybe
we should just be.

We should just be
happy
You and I, uncodified.
Phoebe Nov 2019
Sometimes, it is not about
rising to the challenge
because falling from grace

Just hurts.
It just hurts.

Teeth stained red-
This is not a smile
And this is not a success story,
it is just a story

about life

and it hurts.
Phoebe Nov 2019
There's a hollow below your neck
and a scar on the back of your head

easy. Trick or treat.

I know you, the way you move-
you wear masks all the time, one  made of rubber won't make a difference
I still know how to find your eyes

And that heart of yours that you wear on your sleeve
is not as disguised as you think

And besides, you're the only person I know who smiles
like that;

candy.
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