my answer for the next two weeks
A Poem In Thirty Seconds
I just want you to know
I’m not putting any effort into this
Mostly because I hate you
But partly because I love you
Valentine’s is 24 hours
But baby I’m busy
So here’s thirty seconds out of my crammed schedule
For me to say:
I might be a lot of things but patient isn’t one of them
My days are a haze of
Minutes passing in rapid succession
I don’t stop
I don’t pause
To recall you or your hands or your face or your stupid smile
I don’t miss you
Because I don’t think about you
But if I ever did
(If a class was ever cancelled
And my internet was shut down
And my roommate was gone
And for one dark minute
The whole school --
my whole life
-- managed to become
Still
In nostalgic silence)
I would remember being stopped at a red light with you
On our way home from dinner
I would remember your
one liquid kiss
And how my mind emptied for just one moment
No stress
No schedule
No curfew to be home by
A sigh
And a break in my busy life just big enough for you to slip in.
I have five seconds left
And I’ll count them out
Not by the clock;
By your heartbeat.
This is my new consciousness.