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
