ii

See, I figured it out.
The hands I touch turn to gold.
For some, that's priceless.
For other's it's just extra weight.

And it's rubbing off on me, I have gold stuck behind my fingernails.
I have him behind my fingernails.

See, he had a phase with the band The Temptations,
and I had a phase with the way he always inspects the same set of freckles on his arm.

Phases like that don't change on schedule like the moon's.

The moon has it easy.

And my little brother draws me a new self portrait everyday and tells me that he is giving it to me so that "I don't forget about him in college."
And I don't know how to tell him that you don't forget about forest fires.

And I don't know how to tell my mom that I watch movies she wouldn't like and that I'm actually going to miss her green smoothies in college.
I don't know how to tell my dad that I'm glad he came back.
I don't know how to tell my sister that I actually like her.

But I know how to write poetry,
so I'll do that.
I know how to fall in love,
so I'll do that.
I know how to let go of the parts of myself that don't belong,
so I'll do that.

And I know how to leave.