green

Art by Aarushi Parikh

Writing by Samantha Bohn

          i’ve got a tube of key lime chapstick
acquired when i was sixteen
it once belonged to a guy who
          played guitar and smoked a lot of weed

           we had a conversation about music once
                     just before i heard him play

after graduation he left his backpack behind
“THRASHER” and an upside-down star on the front
empty aside from some paper, a green smell, 
                                        and the chapstick
          maybe it wasn’t even his
          but maybe he liked key lime
and maybe i could have tried harder to
          talk about guitars one more time

instead i’ve got his chapstick

i could think of how his mouth once touched it
          or how my mouth is on it now
but i think instead of how he held that guitar
          stringing the melody along
          wishing i knew how to make magic

                    spinning the chapstick tube in my hand,
          i forgot exactly what the song sounded like
and taste the music instead