Poetry By Sydney Fallon

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The high school parking lot was at the top of a hill.
Pads and tampons up our sleeves, you can hear 
plastic rattle in the breeze, boys taking pictures of asses.
If there was wind it smelled like salt and seagulls. Danny
was dumb enough to use his fake at the wood-paneled wine store. 
You remember that? You remember how Tommy 
got punched by Canadian Hugh in second period. Remember 
purple doors are for swingers? Danny’s 
mom was one but so was his dad. You told me
in the dried-up patch of grass where we watched
everyone else blow blue raspberry clouds. Who 
was the one to pop tabs under his tongue before AP Gov?
Who remembers Kyle’s dance at prom, Mr. Brightside? 
The first time the joke wasn’t on anyone? Everyone 
up on our feet, washed in blue light? 

You remember that? 

Remember the signs outside the high
school, pink paper hearts and smiling sunrise
photos at the crosswalk? Justin had to walk past the spot 
where he called 911 every morning. Who can remember all of that.




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Conversations can be oh how are you and how was school and I forgot to tell you we need to pick up my prescription. I can mine for tenderness within wanna get lunch and we should watch this movie and I’ll meet you at the coffeeshop. Pry sweetness out of a tight crevice. I take long enough gulps to agree. Wear beige tank tops and hide my knees. Inhale so tight my trachea shrinks down to a half-inch diameter. Nothing gets in or out. Gnaw holes right through cheeks. Light candles and move through days unobserved. Ride the bus and avoid soft songs, it almost keeps a person sane. Almost is enough. I wonder if anyone’s ever seen me stepping on the bus with my headphones on, skirt hitting my knees, and craved this life I’m almost in.


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Sydney Fallon is a senior English major and history minor at Kenyon College based in Gambier, OH. Most of her work explores pop culture, familial attachment, and identity. Her poem "Lessons from a Midwestern Highway" won second place in the 2021 Kenyon At Home or Abroad poetry contest. Her work has previously been published in Ghost City Press, Spire Magazine, The Allegheny Review, and Hika magazine. 
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