Dog Tag

I told him
I loved him
He said he loved me back

He called me his Eve
and said
he was my Jay

But he couldn't deal
with that relationship
because I had a child
and he wasn't ready to be a father
just yet

but for a couple months
I continued
to wear his dog tag

then decided
enough was enough

but I still kept the tag
though I wasn't wearing it anymore

a few weeks passed
the tag grew heavier
along with my heart

Then he told me
he was
"On a date"

So I took the tag off the necklace
handed it to a guy I barely knew
and told him

Get rid of this for me. Please.
I don't want to know where you put it
I just don't want it anymore.

He looked at me
puzzled

I told him I might tell him the story someday
but right then it was just too painful.

As he climbed out of my bed the next morning
he told me
he'd thrown it off the Monroe Street Bridge

I've never loved the Spokane River so much

moments to last forever

There's something to be said
for Captain Morgan
being smuggled
during
ninja tag
and s'mores around a campfire
that Gabe built in seconds

guitar music that sweeps
through the group
that doesn't always need to be talking

because we know we're
just that good

the hugs
the laughs
the level of comfort
doesn't compare
to anything you thought you knew before

we wrestle
with eachother
with ourselves
with our own demons
and we share the experiences
because we know that the others will help carry us
when we can't do it on our own anymore

Joe
Kody
Kenney
Gabe
Lynn

they know the names that I call myself
and they rebuke the demons that are latched on my soul
and though we're obsessed with typical teenage stuff
like...
swimming
and watching movies
and Twister
and flirting
and having fun in the middle of the night
without consuming a drop of alcohol

they can sit back and be serious
and I don't have to worry about what I say becoming
a part of the Northport grape vine

these nights
these days
these moments that last forever
I wouldn't trade them for anything