Bittersweet Nostalgia (NaPoWriMo #12)

At a best friend’s cottage.

I miss you.
But I don’t know
If it’s you,
Or the you I knew years, or even months, before.
You’ve changed.
Or maybe I’ve changed.
Or both of us have since taking our own risks and choices.
We said we’d keep in touch, but did we?
Every time I see you
A flood of memories flash before my eyes
And then I’m not sure if I’m really seeing you
And I wonder if you get this confused vision too.
Time has a funny way of dividing reality and memory.
Conversations, jokes, games, plain old sitting at the table,
I remember.
I know you do too,
Because best friends don’t forget that stuff.
Time moves on but we talk of past moments,
Precious but irrelevant to the stories we each write now.
Time has a funny way of dividing people sometimes.
I can see my nostalgic sadness reflected in your eyes.
And somehow our goodbyes
Are never-ending.
Because forever can last forever in your mind.
Until we meet again,
I just wanted to say that
I miss you.

“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”
-Helen Keller

*UPDATE: A few weeks after writing this post, I ran into my friend at a ballet awards show. It was a thrilling surprise and we got caught up for a few good hours. Funny how life can offer you the best coincidences… *

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead

My Dear Frenemy: An Un-love Poem (NaPoWriMo #10)

If you were a tomato,
You’d be the first ammunition I fling
To splat onto the stage of a terrible show
If we lived centuries ago.

Like an itch I can’t supress,
You’re like a remnant plastic fastener that clings
Even after the tag has been cut and removed
Pricking the skin from the back of a dress.

Heads turn at the sounds of your glee
Because guffaws shriek like a fire alarm drill.
Forcefully foolish or brainy at will –
Put on a character, why don’t you,
If you’re looking for the answer to that math problem,
Don’t ask me.

Actually, you’re the dilemna no one can, or wants to figure out
Like a tangled mess of computer wires
Or a bunch of socks with no twins
So lost, even you probably don’t know what you’re about

Looks and comments from mild to vile
Searching for bubbles to pop,
Pierced by a vain glare with an intention to look model fierce,
I respond with the one thing that brings your game to a stop:
A smile.

“Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much.”
– Oscar Wilde

Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead