ice cream soda, cherry on top

skip skip skip

once upon a time / i slept in half-lidded dreams of your curling smile and my eyes dancing in yours. / i was up to my neck in chocolate stares, darling. / and you / you weren’t even ankle deep. /

skip skip skip

your name never made it beneath my airborn feet. / i tripped too early and fell, my face melting in a watered-down confession. / for days, your wordless dimples watched me drown in chocolate, alone. / but i learned to laugh with collapsing lungs when your name swept in and out of somebody else’s mouth, / so i owe you a thank you, really. /

skip skip skip

i bandaged myself in tight threads of youth, the kind that comes neatly on a spool and dulls shame’s blinding glare. / when the threads ran out, i choked on the plastic remains and swallowed them. / they scratched my windpipe on the way down. / and i / i came up breathless. /

skip skip skip

i clutched cursive letters and charcoal blotches taken out of context. / how deliciously tragic it would have been if they weren’t. / i found myself pooling around the year’s edge, / and before the dripping began, / shame’s glare prodded me out the door, reminding me that reopening old gashes was my routine (like christmas mornings in a way). / with my head screwed on straight, my loosening thread didn’t even snag on a backward glance at you as i left. / perhaps it’s because the back of your shirt was in front of me. /

skip skip trip

so, dear, the alphabet is not to be trusted. / its song is contagious to short leaping legs proud, / and you shouldn’t hold the letter you land on close to your still-growing heart. / it may start to grow around it. /