Tumblr was the hub for angsty teens of my era. A venue for pouring your heart out, no matter how fumbling. Now, as a tempestuous twenty-something, the feelings remain but the platform has changed. Without further ado, a poem:

“Hey stranger,” I enthuse into the phone, willing each syllable to sound relaxed and casual, no matter the racing heartbeat.

I’m ten minutes from seeing a man, a very particular man.

Fifteen months prior, he left his indelible mark.

So, when shortly thereafter I pull my car up to his door, my brain still struggles to compute:

He is here? In the flesh?

The mind has imagined and reimagined this reunion in such minutiae, and now it has come to pass.

He too takes me in, the surreal quality of the moment not lost on either of us.

A sweaty hug supplies corporeal evidence of our bodies existing together in space.

We lean in, grateful for the measly one hour our schedules allow.

Fifteen months is a lot to catch up on, especially these last fifteen.

Synchronously, we devour the details of one another’s lives,

Not merely the broad strokes.

He asks good questions, as he always does.

Questions that dig deep from the get-go. Today, we don’t have time for frivolity.

Grief, love, joy, and regret mingle together.

We become full in each other’s company, wandering through Waterville,

On a walk that I don’t want to end.

Fifty-nine minutes later I find myself driving away. Looking forwards and backwards.

Metaphorically.

A text not long after reads, “that was lovely.” Why yes it was.

Tumblr was the hub for angsty teens of my era. A venue for pouring your heart out, no matter how fumbling. Now, as a tempestuous twenty-something, the feelings remain but the platform has changed. Without further ado, a poem:

“Hey stranger,” I enthuse into the phone, willing each syllable to sound relaxed and casual, no matter the racing heartbeat.

I’m ten minutes from seeing a man, a very particular man.

Fifteen months prior, he left his indelible mark.

So, when shortly thereafter I pull my car up to his door, my brain still struggles to compute:

He is here? In the flesh?

The mind has imagined and reimagined this reunion in such minutiae, and now it has come to pass.

He too takes me in, the surreal quality of the moment not lost on either of us.

A sweaty hug supplies corporeal evidence of our bodies existing together in space.

We lean in, grateful for the measly one hour our schedules allow.

Fifteen months is a lot to catch up on, especially these last fifteen.

Synchronously, we devour the details of one another’s lives,

Not merely the broad strokes.

He asks good questions, as he always does.

Questions that dig deep from the get-go. Today, we don’t have time for frivolity.

Grief, love, joy, and regret mingle together.

We become full in each other’s company, wandering through Waterville,

On a walk that I don’t want to end.

Fifty-nine minutes later I find myself driving away. Looking forwards and backwards.

Metaphorically.

A text not long after reads, “that was lovely.” Why yes it was.