maybe we knew cinder

my mind just read a poem 

while my body was in a car 

driving home 

mind felt things

thought in ways it hadnt

before

was touched like no other 

when I finally looked up 

out the windshield again

i felt it 

the connection left

between my teenage brain and adult words

and maybe i didnt quite understand all the big ones 

and maybe i read line 14 slowly even though it was written fast 

maybe i forgot to pause at each comma 

and i wouldve said 'found' where you said 'lost' 

and maybe i wouldve signed xox 

but we're all writers 

i felt strange when the moment with my poem was gone

like when it struck midnight and cinderellas dress vanished 

but she didnt know the shoes would stay 

she had no idea that she didnt need a pumpkin or mice to be important 

because we're all writers 

maybe cinderella was a dude 

maybe the prince was life

and life looked scary because he was so fancy and always ready to take on the next task but cinder wasnt 

cinder was scared 

you couldnt see it though 

cinder always sang happy things

not even the mice wouldve guessed that cinder was sick 

if the mice couldnt tell, how would the prince had known to go easy on her

to chill out 

maybe give cinder the week off 

and we all know how it ends

the glass slipper broke and prince life wasnt even there to see 

but the fairytale was wrong

weve all be deceived 

life and cinder never lived happily ever after 

they never found the second slipper

maybe we can 

(tg)