To the Boy I Thought I Owed Nothing To

I spent five dollars too many at the gas station. 
I thought about the weather. 
It was oddly cool for an August evening. 
I woke up an hour ago 
From a dream that created unnerving parallels between he and 
I 
We were the same, I suppose. 
We hated each other. 
But not enough for this. 
Hate and miss are synonymous in my head and
I never thought I could hate him this much. 
I hated him but 
God I never imagined I could miss him this much
Last year she promised me he had left, 
but after a pause, she said, 
"No, no, he's okay. He's in virtual school now. He's okay." 
I never liked crying like this 
But I'm stranded in a gas station parking lot 
And there are so many empty chairs beside me 
I can't help but wonder if 
I bought him ice cream he would eat it 
In silence, sure. 
He would eye me in suspicion, give me a strange look, and 
not thank me 
But we would sit in company. 
Company that would be forced, suffocating,
but together.
Was the sky crying too? 
We lost someone we didn't need 
But I never thought I would need him now. 
I would be content without seeing him 
for the rest of my life. 
But not like this. 
Did Gabe like blueberries? 
Maybe not. Maybe he liked blackberries 
I hate being that customer but I went in four minutes to close and 
drifted through the store, Dizzy with grief I thought I had slept off 
I bought mourning blackberries 
I forgot how much I didn't like these, 
But I bought them impulsively for Gabe. 
Grieving fruit. 
They were moldy. 
I wondered if that was some kind of cruel
irony,
But the only thing I could comprehend was that
Gabe is dead gabe is dead gabe is dead.
He was always laughing. 
At someone's expense, but at least he was happy. 
I hated that he was always laughing at someone 
I hate now that I hated him 
Everyone wants to take it all back 
But he is in possession of it all now 
Maybe I'll be okay with that one day. 
I think I let myself be stupid so he could smile from it 
But that's not true, only 
the ghost of regret in my head.
I never gave you a second thought but 
All of a sudden you're the only thing 
I hear. 
Nobody wants to think about this anymore than I do 
And I want to 
apologize but I can't 
He never did so why should I 
If he saw me like this now 
How much this is messing me up 
He'd say something dumb and snarky and 
altogether useless 
But at least he knew. 
Let him do with that what he will. 
Because there's nothing we can do for him now. 
Go boy, run for your life.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2016


Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Date: 9/26/2016 2:47:00 PM
wowm what a poem, skat
Login to Reply
Date: 9/24/2016 8:50:00 PM
Thank you for sharing Noah. LINDA
Login to Reply
Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter