Someday I’ll Love Hannah Kelly
After claire schwartz/After Ocean Vuong/After Frank O’Hara/After Roger Reeves
Hannah, don’t dim your eyes to let others see.
You are not a tour guide
you’re a trailblazer.
If you listen to bees
building hives in your head
speak louder.
Let your voice blow out speakers,
blow out every anxious thought you’ve ever had
and then look up at the sky.
Whether it’s blue or black or gray
just look up at it
and realize how lucky you are
to be alive.
Remember the cattle drives of 76th street,
(whether it was true or not)
your mother told her teachers
“the cows are out, I can’t come to class”
then she rode on her horse
over the field they built the mall on.
Life goes on,
it goes on, it goes on.
And it’s going to go on without you
if you don’t look up.
Don’t lose hope in love
but stop looking for someone to fix you,
if you’ve come with missing parts
build new ones.
Wear bright colors.
Sit in the sun.
Write even on hard days.
