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 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
There are too many things
I still want to do with you

Baseball games
in the blistering heat
so I can Instagram our love

Trips to the city
I'll tweet about
just vaguely enough that people wonder
what we did all night
in that big hotel room

Swimming with sharks
getting likes on our Facebook photos
and jealous messages from our friends

Our relationship
was always set to private
I guess I liked it better that way
but whether or not my friends can see it
there are too many things
I still want to do with you

Please don't be done with me yet
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
I didn't have that much to drink
I could see straight
I could walk straight
But my mind was cloudy
With thoughts of you

I pretended I had more than I did
So you would answer honestly
When I told you I wanted you here

You thought it was the alcohol talking
The whiskey telling you
I need you next to me

It was just me
Lonely and desperate
To feel wanted by someone
Three thousand miles away
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
We were barely teens together
and now we're barely sober
on opposite sides of the country

I see photos of her,
sparking thoughts I wish I could erase

She gained so much weight,
I wonder what happened,
She used to look so good


In my critical analysis of her figure
(I could earn a PhD in Judgment of Others)
I miscount the curves of her face,
the shadows falling where they should not be

Her cheeks, I see
(they've gotten bigger)
but I forget to cancel out
the inflation from her smile
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
Facebook told me
You were listening to Lies
on Spotify

So was I
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
What I like about naps in the summer
Is the way it doesn't matter
How hot the air is
You still manage to fall asleep
The warm breeze does not cool you
But it feels so friendly
Against your skin

I love the way the birds
Sing a lullaby
That weighs down your eyelids

I love that their song
Is just the smallest bit different
When they raise them back up

I love how you have to wipe back the hair
That now frames your face
Yet your skin feels perfectly dry
And how the heat had built up
Under your chest
But now you finally feel cool

I love how you can sleep for a few minutes
Or even a few hours
And the sun will still be shining when you wake
As if you haven't lost any time

I love the way a glass of water
Is like paradise after a summer nap
A cure for the sleep induced hangover
That's made tolerable by the sun

I love the way it feels
To be born again
Into the same day
And see it with new eyes
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
Some people are afraid of love
and falling from unknown heights

I ride the tallest and fastest rollercoasters
over and over again
but can't bring myself
to eat in front of those I fall so quickly for

I'm not afraid of falling
I'll even take the jump
I'm afraid of sleeping with the door open
because someone might see the real me

I told you I was busy
that night you asked me to go ice skating
When really I couldn't decide what would hurt more-
breaking a promise to my friends
or watching you watch me fail

You sleep with the door closed, too
I know because I'm behind it with you
On Friday nights
when late night thoughts and beer
make the perfect mixed drink
to sip on while getting to know someone

Even though I still don't eat in front of you
You've seen the way I sleep,
the way I look when I wake up,
tasted my hungover mouth,
and felt every inch of me

I think I'm ready to go ice skating now
Maybe even with dinner before

But let's keep the door closed when we sleep,
I like it better that way
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
I knew I wanted to step on the scale
But my mind was screaming "don't"
Because that number only tells you
How much gravity is pushing down on you
Not how much you're worth

I stared at the wall
As my bare feet touched the cold surface
For once, I was strong and didn't want to see
A number that would break down
The very small wall of self esteem
I have been trying so hard to build

I prayed I would see nothing
Higher than a 4
Or else my day would be done for
I looked to the spot between my feet
As though I was looking into a crystal ball

And surprisingly, I liked what I saw
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
Every so often
You meet someone
Who you fall in love with
Ever so quickly

There is a usually a clock ticking
In time with your beating heart
Racing, faster and faster
Which one will win?

Time will run out
Time always runs out
Before love can form
But before heartbreak as well

You'll part ways
Never to meet again
When you think of them
Your lips will always remember to smile

Every so often
You meet someone
Who you fall in love with
For no reason at all
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
I remember the first time you kissed me.
We had escaped the loud echoes of your drunk friends,
and left my too-sober roommates to wait for my return.
Your best friend ran up the stairs after I left,
I skipped down the street as the girls called after me, questioning.
I remember the smile that would not fade,
the one that gave all of the answers away.

I remember the second time you kissed me.
We drank too much wine and sat too close together
and told each other too many things.
You yelled at me to stop talking so much,
I asked you questions you pretended not to hear.
I remember the way you kept trying to leave,
but how you did not want to go.

I remember the third time you kissed me.
We got into a fight that you tried to fix
with an overnight stay in the room where we first kissed.
We didn't talk about the fight.
I told you things I'll never forget because I knew you'd never remember.
I remember the way you tried to kiss me in the morning,
and how I left, pretending I didn't know.

I remember the fourth time you kissed me.
That night, I realized we would only ever be friends
and then our hands kept touching, our legs intertwined.
You asked me to tell you everything and anything,
as you wrapped your arms around me.
I remember the way I could see you, looking at me,
out of the corner of my eye when I was too afraid to look at you.

I remember all of the times after when you kissed me.
Graduating to morning, then afternoon,
private to public, drunk to sober.
You kissed me for all reasons,
and no reason at all.
I remember the way you always smiled afterwards,
and how it always made me feel sure.

I remember the last time you kissed me.
It was too early in the morning for there to be time,
my eyes couldn't tell if the sun was awake.
I waited and waited for there to be another one,
but there wasn't.
I remember thinking of all the other kisses,
and knowing too deeply that this would be it.
 Aug 2014 Lena Nickel
elizabeth
When you're sixteen
Alone, angry, and depressed
I hope you'll remember tonight
How we played outside in the cold summer air
Searching for little lights to catch in our hands
Only to let go again

I hope you'll chase lightening bugs
For the rest of your life
I hope you see the places they hide
And cry when you are told not to go there
I hope you always find the little lights
That others swat away
I hope you let the little lights go
Because you know they will come back again

When you're sixteen
Upset, terrified, and confused
I hope my hugs will still dry the tears
That everyone else has created
I hope you will still search for me
When everything is falling apart

You are my lightening bug,
My little light in the dark
That I refuse to catch for too long
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