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Do You Remember When We…?
a poem for my childhood best friend
do you remember when we were 13 years old and deeply insecure?
you hid it under a layer of perfect hair, makeup, and new clothes
you were boy crazy and loud
all bright smiles and dirty jokes
I was quiet and lonely
always hiding in my shell
until you pulled me out
we laughed and talked and gossiped all day
made up codenames for our crushes so no one would know who we were talking about
I never got into trouble before I met you
and I loved every second of it
running down the halls before lunch hour ended
puncturing the silence with our voices
making bird calls and flapping our arms
careening down the halls
teachers came out of their classrooms to shoot us dirty looks and shut their doors
do you remember when we brought a piece of lettuce to history class and left it on someone’s desk
then pretended like we knew nothing about it?
