the day 6 prompt was a bit tricky at first: "write something in a conversational style and include something outlandish, unreal, unbelievable" or whatever. i wasn't sure i could nail either half of that! this result isn't fully to my liking——i tried the first half in the first stanza and never quite edited it out, and some other parts don't sit quite right with me——but overall i like it anyway. walt's a bestie, after all. people think this poem is very sweet, but it's actually meant to be bittersweet: it's a fantasy, after all, and the fantastical part is finding validation and actualization at that young age..

 anyway, enjoy! :-)

day 6 - a fantasy

by tophie palmer 

my graduating class was so damn large
that i brought a book about walt whitman,
who even now remains a favorite,
by my then favorite author, you know?
it had all come together so nicely,
weird as the book turned out to be. oh well!
it’s on these shelves, somewhere, i think..

my love for walt was like a comet then,
racing thru the inner solar system,
its long tail so bright in my little sky;
he gave me reason to love and be loved
—he’d changed my high school heart forever.
that comet comes and goes, as comets do,
but it blazed bright then, fully fulfilling me.

high school had been rough, as it often is,
it seems, but graduation meant freedom!
there i was, waiting for my name and reading
that strange novel about my poet, and
there he was! on the stage, arms spread for me
as i crossed, book awkwardly under-armed;
there he stood, love blazing and eons old.

as he hugged me there and i cried, a love
i’d always needed came to me, overflowed;
the audience stood for me and cheered, and i
let go of every foolish crush i’d had,
let go of every stupid boy i’d craved,
let go of every awkwardness i’d felt,
and found myself true in walt’s waiting arms.