Young Writers Society

forever was a word we read in cheap romance novels
bought off the pavement for a bargain and a smile
it was a word i misspelled in the spelling bee 2004
and the word you tagged onto the end of every sentence 
like a promise

forever was the name of your underground band 
and the name you gave your cat when you realised 
a certain person's lack of musical talent 

it was a labyrinth of a word the first year of secondary school
an onion with too many layers 
that caught beneath my fingernails

it was a word that made me cry 
and laugh 
and fail the first literature exam i gave 
because i spent two pages talking about its edges 
and curves and forgot to explain 
why Romeo and Juliet never had a forever

to you it was just another word
and it did not matter what the world thought it to be 
or what the world defined it as 
because you said we are not definitions we are not
the apices at the end 
of an uprooted plant

to you it was
just a word just a spasmodic recurring out-lash
that fused together your larynx
the brushing of tongue against teeth 
and nerve signals 

it was
just a
word 
just a
promise
just a 
cry 

but you said i could keep it 
on my nightstand if i wanted 
i could chew at it 
until it made sense i could 
hide it in a jar from the world i could 
whisper it to you and you would 
listen 

on my nineteenth birthday you bought me a Volkswagen Beetle
and you named it 
forever