laughter became our
common tongue
as we filled our mouths
with each other's whimsy

if overthinking was a game
i'd put all my chips in
and i wouldn't be bluffing

i'd use the money on a xanax overdose

i call myself a poet
but i've deceived them all
i'm really just sad
and waiting for you to call

something
is behind your
eyes

it just won't
come out
of your
mouth

i realized in ap government.
as you defended your argument with those sharp but elegant hand gestures you do.

you aren't even the most convincing speaker (you talk sososo fast)
but i was convinced. i would do whatever you said.

i felt like i was submerged in warm water, everything moving to the rhythm of you. i couldn't even say a word to you for the rest of class; i was so dizzy.
my head swirling with imaginary tales of what it would be like
to love you.

but i look you in the eyes and the water gets cold.
yours are brown, but they look at me just as empty as her blue ones did.

and i don't have another two years to spend loving someone more than they love me.

so i'll sit with you in ap government and get a little dizzy when you talk. i'll pretend it's because i didn't eat lunch.

dear mom,
i'm sorry
that you made me
feel like
it was all my
fault

you didn't blow up my world. you didn't. losing you didn't feel like the apocalypse and there's no way i'm crying over you. two years of holding your calloused hands in mine wasn't the highlight of my life. seeing your hair fade from deep rich shades of purple to a light airy lavender never made my heart stop. i can't even remember how many times i had to remind myself that you were even mine. because you wouldn't do it for me.

i learned how much you love to hold on. your knuckles are white. your room is full to bursting with little useless things and i never once wondered why you don't throw them away. you don't know me better than i know myself. i can't pick you out from a crowd and right now i don't want to. the fact that you broke up with me over text doesn't bother me anymore. or at least that's the story i'm going with this time. i already forgot the exact words you said.

you didn't blow up my world, you tilted it on it's axis. the day i lost you was the day the world kept going on without me instead of ending like it was supposed to. i can't cry over you because i can't even breathe. years with you have shown me that my life is all highlighted. you make even my broken childhood feel like a dream. the ever shifting color of your hair never stopped my heart because it could only go faster and faster to keep pace with your laugh as i twisted it around my fingers. you never reminded me in words, you did it with your sure steady gaze as you walked me all the way to the end of your driveway when i had to go.

you love holding on to broken things because you're worried that no one else will love them. that's why you held on to me. and you will never know me like i know me because you always believed me to be better than i am. you made me see the light in myself even after i called myself a black hole. i see you in every place we used to share and i don't ever want to pick you from a crowd because i'm scared i'll run to you. i don't remember what you said when you let me go because i'm still holding on. my knuckles are white too.

and i'm so sorry that i don't hate you