Try Poem by Danielle Nguyen

I was going to stand in front of you.
I was going to make you smile like
fresh cupcakes on your birthday or
a non-platonic Valentine.


I was going to tell you,
No one else, no one else, no one!
I was going to say,
You and only you
I promise.


I was going to show you the way
you make my smile spread
Was going to reveal how
mute people speak
how to sculpt without your hands,
making existence without matter.


I was going to let it all spill out
Jumbling from a toybox
Blocks like jewels, hopeful and bright
Scurrying on the carpet, shivering


But I'm just a little girl.
And what adults like and what
little girls have to give
aren't always the same.


This is a game of chance.
Maybe if I knew that
this construction paper card,
love dribbled in Elmer’s glue,
heart timid and glittering
wouldn’t end up in a forgotten shoebox
neglected and damned to linger with dust bunnies

Maybe if I knew that
these things were enough
I would have done more than
sat down in this nursery
tucked in my legs
and written you this poem.