Would you meet me for lunch (again)?
I still enjoy a meal of sushi…
Especially a sashimi plate
With its bright colors and delicious cuts
Bedded on white sheets of radish shreds.
Please find a day you won’t be rushed.
Let’s take our time to gently grasp
Each melting bite
Held gently twixt our chop-sticks
Pause to dip in salty sauce
with wasabi’s potent burn blended lightly in
We’ll delicately feed ourselves
Slowly let the soft smooth flesh
Rest a moment on the lips and tongue
Feeling every subtle flavor…
Between the mental nourishment
of our shared conversation
(So long it has been missed)
How I hunger to finally revive
such simple moments

You say the day
I’ll tuck the hope away

It’s just a lunch…
only lunch…
…

It’s tender,

being the closest of friends..
but oh, isn’t it such a dangerous thing?
To hold you with care,
in the space we made,
while promising

I won’t touch a single thing.

But sweet love... to be this close
to someone like you..
need I say

what your voice can bring?

Warmth, truth,
supportive hands that tend--
it’s a dream come true
for those who bleed.

But when a deep need is quietly met,
can the heart resist
going full send?

And still—when a need
is met without hands,
without lips,

without sleep lost
   in shared breath...

how long before restraint slips?

This depth.. untouched,
unspoken, unseen..
it burns through the walls
between you and me.

Yes, even with agreements
so lovingly made...
there’s always the risk
in a love so brave;


  that we will  both

             come

      undone.

The friendship is so

delicate, we cannot say --


goodbye properly.

I write about you

so as not to lose you, so --


as to be with you.

She was loud but quiet .
She rebelled but yet repent.
She was snow yet fire.
She burned yet burnt.

She was one, yet two
Duality lived beneath her skin,
She was possessive, cruel
yet detached, aloof.

She prayed with eyes
She yearned in silence.
She screamed with tears
She dreamed of violence.

Her energy wasn’t radiant
It burned low, too quiet.
She loved the glow,
The beauty of  ice.

Made bonds, not deep.
She preached,
Not presence ,But soul.
Not me, but Bond
Not me but bond...


---

I’m at a stand-still with you.

You ask for my advice.
I give it.

You don’t like it.
I offer something different.

Not good enough.
Then figure it out yourself.

I need your help.
Then I need you to accept it.

I paddle this verbal boat forward.
And you paddle it back.

We’re not really going anywhere.
Just making a splash.

FRIENDSHIP:
All in the same ship or
All in the same boat.

Friends do their best
To understand things
Shared by friends.

FRIENDSHIP TO SOME:
The interests of a politician
An agenda manipulating
Your position.

FRIENDSHIP TO ME:                 
It is not a dictatorship
It does not grab the wheel
It always makes you feel
You are in control.

Friendship does not focus
On fates remains
It cloaks your fears and
Shares the blame.

Friendship is not a forfeit
It closes ears and eyes
To those that accuse and
Deny though on a certain
Level it always remembers
Because its failsafe can
Never forget.
 
DEEPER FRIENDSHIP:           
And then there is a
Deeper purer friendship
Based upon unconditional
Love and mutual respect
Which catapults it
Into a whole new
Dimension of caring and
Nurturing
Which
Transcends simply caring
For its own and glorifying
Its bones in a well-kept
Grave of the status quo
But grows into an
Uncanny respect and
Caring for others
Beyond cliquish and
Familial bonds.

FRIENDSHIP'S BASIS:
Often made of the
Imperfect
Of things that may
Seem
To contradict.
It often overlaps
Most relationships.

And though it may not
Seem to be a monolith
We must sometimes stand
Alone on plains unknown.

Before you start reading:
None of these messages were ever sent. Niki made them up. Niki is me.
She’s scared of losing a friendship — so she writes instead of speaking.
That way, she never risks an answer.
But maybe, if she writes enough, she won’t forget what it felt like.


Niki
24 May 2025
00:04
age 14

YOU ARE SO PERFECT
not because of respect or intellect
or the one hundred you got on the exam
and it’s not that i don’t give a ****
about those things
but i DO care about how you pull my strings
your voice so soft so gentle
your mind so judgemental
you’ve got everything figured out
will never be too loud
nor too quiet you say what you must
but don’t want everything to be discussed
you know what you want and expect
you know the impact
i wanted to be like you so bad
now that i think about it it’s sad
but you’re a musical in a world of songs you’re not right in a world full of wrongs
you look so stunning so pretty
pretty like stars outside of my city
that’s a weird place for me to draw a line
this city is as much yours as it’s mine
but you would rather see darkness
outside of it while i like the starkness
sure i talk and smile and laugh
but you’re the confident bibliotaph
you’re the only person i show my poetry
i hope you see how special that is to me
now i established all of that
yet still didn’t hint what i’m getting at
something i will never be able to do
is measure or stand up to you
and i grew to accept it  
i LOVE you but it still HURTS a little bit.


Poppy Piume
5 July 2025
19:37
age 15

YOU ARE SO LEFT
steal songs personalities commit theft?
you have opinions engraved in your soul
i came out to you then felt a hole
rainbows on your bags socks and hats
you know “facts” never numbers or stats
i don’t want to fight
you don’t want to admit i’m right
you’re supportive but supported too
in some ways i’m jealous of you
you’ve been doing some healing
sharing what you’re feeling
i hope you’re happy and starstruck
while i am trying not to cry and feel stuck
maybe you can’t see
i hate you making fun of me
for marks i worked hard to get
things i wish i would have said
dreams i want to achieve some day
then i’ll be free from the things you say
the songs we both listen to
expectations set by you
the words you write
i’ll live in darkness without you’re light
but you might repeat “i’m not right, i’m left”
i’ll realise you did commit theft
and i’ll learn to love your art
as i figure out you STOLE MY HEART.


Niki
2 November 2027
23:41
age 16

I AM SORRY
that’s what I’ll say once I know the story
still won’t really know what to do
but might tell you how I felt about you
it will be too late
we’ll convince ourselves it wasn’t fate
you’ll have a lovely girlfriend by that time
I’ll be seeing a guy and my love won’t rhyme.


Poppy Piume
13 December 2030
01:30
age 20

I FEEL BETRAYED
i wish we would have stayed
this wouldn’t be such a ***** up
if we were still in that city but we grew up
you used to hate everything you now are
how did we get this far
from what we used to be
little you would want to unsee
she literally wouldn’t allow
the boyfriend you have got now
the small me would be sad as well
she has so many new stories to tell
but never got over
the way that other girl drove her
mad crazy all *******
YOU taught me this attitude.

the first time we met
a chance encounter
on my way out the door
yet something
held me in place
your eyes keeping me
in your rose kissed grasp

we met
and i wondered
how i could already
have so much love
for one person
it was as if we'd fought together
on the same battlefield
swords clashing
shields in place
fighting for each other
again and again

maybe then
it's not too much to hope
that there is another world
in which we made it
choosing each other
above all else
a place
where roses bloom
on the bloodiest battlefields

we met
and i knew that i had loved you
in every lifetime.