baby, just say yes

first notes of love story (taylor’s version) trickle through the speakers 
down the windowpane & my mind flashes back 
to a memory so vivid of a young girl wearing a dark blue sweater
that itches everywhere it touches skin, her right hand tapping 
away at the keyboard keys of her first laptop & her left 
scratching at her neck. her parents’ room was bathed 
in golden from the backlight & the blinds,
her mother was swatting at her left hand & her father 
was sitting to her right. when i was younger,
she wanted to be a scarlet letter because it seemed 
exciting. she did not know then what i know now: 
everything a woman desires
is deemed a crime. she simply loved letters 
& the colour scarlet & she wanted. ms. swift 
sang see the lights, see the party, 
the ball gowns–& she saw me sinking 
into bathtubs full of wine & giggles & 
everything bathed in a golden light only 
her parents were not there & i was far 
tipsier. everything 
seems better with a bottle of wine. she yearned
for fairy lights before she knew of them. Juliet 
sang romeo save me
i’ve been feeling so alone & all she wanted
was a room of her own & to be longing 
in her childhood bedroom for pretty airports. 
she heard love story & dreamed up a life of dreams. 
& now the first notes of love story (taylor’s 
version) drip through the speakers & settle
like dewdrops on my lashes & my hands 
are empty — is this a poem about loss? but 
i’m sitting in my favorite coffeeshop in
my favorite airport in my favorite 
city in the world & i 
look up 
& the sky is pink
& nothing hurts