We went to the same middle school. You were very 
attractive & I heard bad things about you. 

I knew girls who dated you & cried. 

I was the quiet type. I always knew more about people 
than they thought. I watched you from a distance.

High school came & pronounced my shape 

& sexuality looked into my nervous eyes. 

I remembered you but you didn't know me. 

I guess you liked how I looked more than 
when we were in middle school. & one day you kissed me.

We were lost in our chemicals & growing heights. 

We let this confusing & soothing feeling ride between us 
to become a story. We were young & had to succumb 
to the soft yet forceful pull of falling in love. 

We screamed each other's names, at the ceiling, 
at each other, to the sky, to our dreams. 

But something reminded you 
that the world could be cruel. 

Your light was eclipsed by dark memories; 

you took them out on me. 

You scraped the shame off your bones 
& threw it at me during arguments. 

You called me everything that hurts. 

I tried to hold us both while I felt 
shredded sympathy for myself. 

I became insane 
& loved your pain while trying to fix it. 

.Laura Curren.