"They don’t love you like I love you." - Karen O
But what to make of these new ones here
Who only seek to fashion your heart after theirs?
What can I do w the rippling of envy
The seething of anger as I watch them
Tear and rip at your garments
Tsk-ing at your hand-me down shirt -
The one I found on that day the clouds suddenly opened up from above And wasn’t it just like me to have forgotten the umbrella
So I picked up the only thing I could afford:
A 1983 CIF Championship track shirt
For some high school we didn’t attend
But it somehow all felt right.
And though I’d outgrown it I couldn’t throw it out
So you kept it.
Can they remember the time they looked on you
From the 105 interchange - the highest spot in our neighborhood. Lights twinkling
And stoplights churning and, yeah, my
Heart racing in the mix of a fear of
Heights I hadn’t quite realized and the sadness
Of my first heartbreak.
I went to you first.
You held me there.
And now I don’t know what to do
As these people set up their own
Homes inside of you
While I look outside knowing I’d
Loved you first.
Pershing Square. Downtown LA. March 2017. Credit: AJ Joven