i’d leave the bags of clothing on the floor
every shirt stuffed and rolled
if that meant you were going to unpack them.
you told me i have a “heart of a doctor.”
you tell me how i heal, and drop everything to make sure everyone knows how to discard fears and eliminate that rage that builds up when she does this, and other girls ask why she did that?
i find myself trying to block out noise in my head
because all i can hear are the songs we listened to together on the radio
in that all-too-brief moment where i was all right with the world
and i threw my head back and laughed like we used to do.
when we were younger and we’d walk around the shopping mall to get closer
to all of the lights
Taylor Hodgkins 