APRIL 2, 2024

PROMPT: Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a platonic love poem. In other words, a poem not about a romantic partner, but some other kind of love – your love for your sister, or a friend, or even your love for a really good Chicago deep dish pizza. The poem should be written directly to the object of your affections (like a letter is written to “you”), and should describe at least three memories of you engaging with that person/thing.

POEM:

TRUE BLUE

Sweet love,

Not nearly worn too thin,

Keep me warm from the cold.

Envelope these sharp elbows,

These broken wings,

Under your veneer.

Soothe these frost-bitten hands

With your sleeves.

Hang loosely over these old bones.

You pucker at the collar,

But I don’t care.

You allow me room to breathe.

Taking in your scent of old perfume,

And the wonder wheel of youth,

I think of my mother.

Your cuffs are frayed,

Your colors faded,

But I drape you over me,

Like the arm of a familiar friend.

We were all girls once.

- Alexandra Johnson, inspired by Mom’s old Nike