watercolor radio

Reassurance to Sierra in High School

Don’t worry. The acne will go away, sort of.
You will stop fighting with your sisters. This will be 
because of two things: your inability

to steal their clothing and the realization 
that they are older, cooler versions of you. Your bully 
will end up shaving her head and going to jail

or she will become a lawyer and have a nice car 
and six babies. You will have no idea. You will forget 
what she looks like, remember her the way 

one remembers a splinter. You will stop 
loving sharp things. You will learn how to make 
your bed without being forced or threatened.

You will break up with your high school 
sweetheart. I know this is a surprise 
but trust me. It is the right thing.

Yes, he loves you but it is a smothering love,
the way a dog nurses an open wound, all bared teeth
and tongues. When you leave him,

it will not feel like crushing a light bulb
in your hand — more like slowly, so slowly
removing glass from inside your palm.

For years after him, you will let your heart
hang open like a soup kitchen. This is not 
a bad thing, more a lesson in proportions. 

After graduation, you will change a hundred 
times over, like a revolving door, a waterfall. 
One day, you will learn how to give 

and receive love like an open window 
and it will feel like summer every day. 
One day, everything will make sense. 

- Sierra DeMulder

Posted 10 months ago — 122 notes