To The Girl Reading Gatsby On The Couch By The Window

Every now and then, I branch out of writing for school, Clmbing Magazine, text messages, and I dabble in poetry. My friend David Hernandez suggested I put some of it on my blog, so, here you go! I might start randomly posting bits of poetry. Some of it will be mine and some of it will be the work of others. But since this is MY blog and I like poetry, you just have to suck it up and deal. Here's one I wrote a little while ago.

To The Girl Reading Gatsby On The Couch By The Window

There is an older woman 

making Valentines in the corner by the lamp,

and a man bearded with scars he’d 

rather not talk about playing the piano. 

The woman with scissors and red paper listens 

to his rendition of Billie Holliday’s 

“I’ll Be Seeing You”, and thinks he is playing for her.

No, he is playing for us.

See, you sit by the window 

and I see that we are both drinking cappuccino, 

and I think that says a lot about a person.

I can’t pay for yours 

but I can offer you all the real

estate of my right hand.

You could sip the art off my foam

and read me your favorite lines.

We could sway our heads 

to the piano man’s fingers

and talk about high school versions of our selves.

You could tell me about how God

listens to your heartbeat on his iPod,

how you’ve learned to let it be okay to say,

“I really wanted that to work.”

I could tell you about how I learned

to flinch before I learned to read, 

that I’ve learned to give myself 

permission to be complicated.

Older couples would say,

“You two look good together.”

I would tap you with my elbow,

as if to suggest, I agree.

I’d make you breakfast in the 

morning, run my fingers

down your spine and ask,

“Five more minutes.”

If I could find a way to grind my 

teeth into an “I dare you”,

I’d dare myself to ignore the washing 

machine in my stomach 

and ask you for your name.

See, I missed class the day they

taught us how to be brave,

but I’ve come to understand that 

my insecurities are in all the right places.