love exists
05/19/2024
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9:14 p.m.
may 18th 2024.
my living room
on the couch
my mom didn’t have
the reaction that i necessarily
wanted her to have
when i told her i liked girls
i didn’t grow up in a space
where people were particularly affectionate
she was worried that I don’t know real love
because i hadn’t been shown it.
but i disagree
with my mom’s thinking.
because i do know love.
my life is full of it.
i know how it feels
to laugh until my tummy hurts.
and tears
stream from my eyes
i know how it feels
to squeeze my friends tight
and show up for them
when they do something amazing.
and i know how it feels
to sit with a pretty girl
who makes me rosy cheeked
and makes me feel like the only girl in the world.
I know love
if not in the traditional way
if not in kisses, in dates, in promise rings
but in a way that i know how to express.
because as the internet poets say,
“i know that love exists,
because i exist.
and i’m full of it.”