Passing Days

In 7th grade (2009), I won a poetry contest featured in A Celebration of Poets as a high merit poem. I have been writing poems since my grandma died in 2008 as a coping mechanism, but I was shocked to be honored for my art after multiple mediocre art show performances. In 2008, I fell in love for the first time and wrote this poem about the cute moments we shared. Reading this back 15 years later reminds me of all the adorable moments and inside jokes we shared. As a 28-year-old, the worst part of a breakup is still the secrets lost. I am impressed at the insightfulness and melancholy of this piece I wrote at 13. I was a sad girl in DC even then.