Poems That I Form

thrift store

Secondhand is making a comeback,
As well as gently used items and items are thrown away by others.
I got all of my clothes from the thrift store before it was cool,
When kids would mock the idea of someone else wearing my shirt
Before it became mine.

I am secondhand.
I had a friend with gorgeous blonde hair and blue-grey eyes,
Who knew what to say,
What to do,
How to smile without showing off the obvious overbite she doesn't have.
Everyone loved her when she joined the school two years after I did.
Even though I tried my best to do the same things as her.
Bitterness bit at me,
But I held it back until we both graduated and I ghosted her.
She was hanging out with the wrong crowd for me anyways.

I never got a lead role.
I never became prom royalty.
My art was never on display in class,
It was on the corkboard corner.
I was the second thought for every friend function and teacher's class.

I was the third person he dated
And the second one he said "I love you" to.
At least I was his first sexual assault charge.

I was his second choice when he wanted to have a rebound,
The second one he called and told me the whole story,
And it took two days for him to stop talking to me.

I am secondhand.
I am the second person.
The bridesmaid, but never the bride,
But who cares about marriage when mine fell apart
The second she took a gulp of Cognac.

I wasn't upfront with the band,
I had to sit on the couch because walking was too hard for me
And I couldn't breathe with the vape juice and weed invading
Over sweaty adult bodies that I protected my friends from.

But he asked me to dance,
Not the other way around,
And who cares if he asked another person.
I had to say I couldn't,
So instead he gave me his number and we talked artwork.
Then, the last song came on and he asked again.
I said yes.

I don't like him romantically,
I don't know his age but he looked 25,
But something made me want to smile harder than ever before.
Because I wasn't secondhand at the moment.

I was chosen first.