2022 - The Rhapsodist

Nostalgia Leah Goodman At the store, trying to decide which brand of bread to get The blank paper inside me became splashed with ink for the first time in a long time When an old song came on My mind flashed back to young smiles making up for what they lacked in teeth, with true happiness I could feel the wind high fiving me as we drove through the city with the song ringing in our ears and taste lollipops and helium from party balloons when we danced our way through each birthday I could see kids watching colors shoot up among the stars in the sky on the Fourth of July and feel my mom’s hand rubbing my back when my head felt like it was going to explode And standing there looking at bread I was trying to figure out when the song began to represent the way our smiles lost their reality as our teeth grew back in to fill the gaps As we started to blast it to mask the sadness of growing up When lollipops, colorful stars, and back rubs were replaced by Ibuprofen and blank beige walls How the song had become a distant noise from the next isle over in a grocery store And how happiness had become distant memories Nostalgia is a funny thing because I left the store with color in my eyes, but an unbearable emptiness inside As my hands began reaching back for something impossible to grasp.

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