Politics At Parties Boy

Politics At Parties Boy

My first kiss was a boy with
Chocolates for eyes and
Lashes as long as the summers we
Spent playing pirates in the dirt.

And the first hand that ever held mine
Like its very life depended on it
Belonged to a girl that resembled the sun
So much I would have spent the rest
Of my life following her light, or as long
As she’d let me.

And you say you don’t believe in parallel universes
But you sound a lot like one.

When I tell you goodnight on your birthday
I do it with two left feet. And the silence it leaves
Sounds a lot more like another lifetime’s hum
Than it does quiet. And all the things we might be
In the universe next door
Giggle in the commas, and hush.

(Maybe they just stopped by to eavesdrop
Curious to see what becomes of us in this one.)

So we tell them all about the day
We planned revolutions on my bedroom floor, or how we once
Spent an entire Monday lunch break making life plans over ice cream
And most of our parties talking politics over beer
We both paid for ourselves.
About the days you drive me to school. In your car
I am the girl, front-seat passenger of our lives,
Who does not need reach for the steering wheel –
The road is alright.
And you are the boy who plays me songs about all
The heartbreak that will never belong to us.
In this life, the potholes in our conversations
Are all stumbling and no fall.
This world is reserved for Quentin Tarantino movies and
Hellos in the hallways before class

And when I break my own heart
You’re there, not to save me
But to listen on the phone until I remember
How to save me all on my own:
Freaked out by forever boy
Talk politics at parties boy
I wonder if we could have had a future, boy.

A year from now, I’ll send you postcards
From places further West.
And for all I care, it all can stay exactly as it is
Because there is no one I’d have rather
Talked politics at parties with.