You go girl. There is crazy freedom
in the way you swing your guitar case---
hefting it into the air, into an arc of bravery
where it scrapes the gray canvas of sky
and leaves a streak of reckless creativity in its wake---
yes, you swing it toward the sidewalk
where the scarlet buds littered in the cracks
no longer resemble the thin cuts which once
lingered on your forearm,
because now your clean guitar case
swings down only to fly up again. Love you
like the outline of a heart your voice traces
as you strike your mix of indie & rock
every Friday after school, strumming out dreams
you used to hide cause nobody understands
i’ll never make it, but now those dreams
ricochet around the coffee-warm cafe
for every dreamer to touch those beating wings,
to reach for and stroke the very feathers
you tried choking down your throat.
#hashtag now sauntering down the exhaust-scented street
on our way to the Liberation cafe
with your mouth finally open
in a young wild laugh, in what must be
a song, melody of the teenage anthem extracted
from all those years of scar tissue
formed around your still beating heart---
#hashtag self-expression, caught on camera
by your biggest fan, your best friend---
this is a sure post on facebook
I think the world must see
before you go sing your soul out again.