a year lost, at home with nothing to write about

-"corporate woods"-on a location name I came across at work
-A ballad, but like better this time?
-The song bunny "But I'll stay easy to find, just in case you change your mind"
-my perception of love as an obligation (because who needs therapy to unpack that shizz when you can just write a poem about it?)
-"life as a really weird sports game" idea from last year I never played with

So I was in a poetry jam pad today, got named "tomato", and then there was this whole tangent about writing a poem about a tomato in the ocean. What followed is this year's first entry in the "super weird but so fun to write" category. I also have a highly scientific explanation that the tomato knows so much about the world compared to the fish because tomatoes sit still in one place and can talk to each other and learn from the whole world network of tomatoes, while fish are too preoccupied with not dying to really learn about things.

Semi-related video of catfish on a tomato farm: https://www.wral.com/lifestyles/travel/video/12743656/

Also, thanks @Tuckster <3

Old version of
Verse 2 (not sure, but maybe it's imagining what the "you" remembers even if he denies it. Or maybe this is "me" some more and then the bridge will be "you"?)

it's a boring winter night
you're at the grocery store
when you hear a song, you hate it but
you can't remember what for

then it clicks and you freak out
because you can't change the tune
so as you fill your cart you wonder if
I'm doing okay now?

some days I'm
too easy to find
if only in your mind....

9. through thick and thin

when we were five,
we knew what it would be like
to grow up, to buy big houses
right next to each other,
and travel the world together.
we'll be friends through thick and thin
we said, as if we had any clue
what that meant.

then seventh grade came,
and suddenly you saw me
as an obstacle to popularity
and so you shunned me in the cafeteria
and i watched you laugh with the cool girls
as i devoured my lunchable in the corner.

in high school, you apologized
and we'd sit next to each
at lunch and in every class,
friends forever, through thick and thin.

but then he came along,
lured you in with a charming smile
and promises of adventure.
everyone knew he was trouble,
but you didn't listen to me.

tension grew between our desks
because i hated how you only talked about him
and you hated that i didn't see him
the way you did.

next thing i know, he has your weekends.
you're texting me drunk nonsense at 3 am
and i tell you to be careful
and you tell me to stop sounding like your mom,
and i wonder if this is the thin or thick part
of friends forever, through thick or thin.

by graduation day, we're hardly speaking.
you say i'm jealous of your true love and parties,
but these days, you look pale, gaunt, ragged--
is this what he's turned you into?

you grow pale, gaunt, shivering--
you say it's fine, but i know better.
there's only two ways this can end
and i can only pray you hit rock bottom
before it kills you.

i walk past your house,
wondering if you see me,
wondering if i could shout
loud enough to wake you up,
but i don't think i can
so instead i whisper
friends through thick and thin, we said
so come back and let's grow thick again.