On Forgiveness and Youth ​
Juliette Jeffers

Most things of this nature 
resolve in boiling water, 
the wool around your fingers, 
twisting in soap and dirt. 
Life is short and I have to learn 
to say only what is necessary. 
What I want to say is that I wasn’t always 
so sweet. My black eye was my own fault, 
the force of ugly things. 

Maybe I don't mean forgiveness, 
I still fear surface tension and the coldness of
it, I don’t drive anyone anywhere anymore, 
I am better for it.
 
I still long for nothingness, 
and I'm still begging someone to tell me 
I’m this unexpected diamond in the street, 
some small glittering fish. 
Thankfully you are that someone, 
though not now, as I pour myself listlessly, through the street.
After dinner I cease to exist 
beyond the tip of my tongue.

Juliette is a student at Pitzer College and is majoring in Creative Writing.