ripped a scab on myc knee when i was twelve. mom wasn’t home. this was the first time feeling unloved. Things need rewiring to become things again, not People. for sure. forthright. four people make a family but three is broken in some way. missing my home. the new tenants cut down our lemon tree though my dog peed on it so many times it was bound to fall. ignore it all. live in the moment and forget the rest. lie in the dirt don’t get your pants dirty. everyone cares. care means different things to different people. not to me and Her, though, we understand things in the same way. make you feel what i felt all my life starting with my knee. stay away from it all. you don’t care, you forgot. easy for people to find People in the sea of Things that have become things again. easy for Things to become things again, not People, not me. everybody in the room is fake laughing at real jokes. nothing is landing and i can’t pay attention. explain it all so nothing makes sense. connect the dots four years later, can’t wait to tell you in another life. try again to make the Thing a thing again, but it doesn’t work for me in the way it works for people. the lemon tree was big, too big to be cut down with care. the saw had to have destroyed all those nests. tenants bought the house with cash so they own it. paper buys things. things are for People. things are easy for people to let go of but People are hard. do I turn you into a thing. does that work. people on people. Things need rewiring to become things again but not sure about that for me. pills go down my body in a different way. they never make a splash. just move on. girl in the back looks like you. girl in my chair looks like you. things need to return to the way things were and the rules can’t apply to anyone but me anymore. people on people. forthright and forthcoming. four things to know only three matter. one is flippant. flipping back and forth between hate and like. not love, won’t admit that. liked you a lot. liked the feeling. liked the chemical in my brains. reduce it, people say. people do that. people enjoy that. that’s how we fall out of love they say. take it all back. take it all in and let it all go. do that all at the same time and forget the boy who wants to kiss the girl in the vest. examine how he speaks to her and to the men around him. falling in love is a choice but not in that way. choose who you want and stick with it. People love People to be on People. don’t take that for granted mom says. are you dating she asks. you play games on your phone and that’s why no one loves you. People pay attention. to me, mostly. that’s how that feels. People are pretending all over. People are not easy to be around, people all know this. People on People. Things need rewiring to become things again.
People
Share this
Continue Reading
About the Author
Madison Hu is a senior at Columbia University studying creative writing. She is an actor and writer.