Poets logo

Pinky Promise

I grasp your finger like a safety switch

By AprilPublished 3 years ago 2 min read
Like
Pinky Promise
Photo by Hunter Newton on Unsplash

The air smelled like sunset,

And our fingernails resembled dirt devils.

We’d dug a hole halfway to China as far as we were concerned.

It was our playdate pastime to toss sand from side to side.

Rich with spare time at the age of five,

We spent it digging underneath the blue slide.

I wrapped my pinky around yours

And promised to never speak of it.

Bathrooms became battlefields,

And hallways always us swimming upstream.

Middle school didn’t turn out to be everything it seemed.

Our locker, a place of solace,

We’d meet every day at five minutes before noon.

“Let’s never miss a day unless we can both stay home sick.

If you’re not here, come lunchtime I won’t know where to sit.”

I grasp your finger like a safety switch.

We seal it with a pinky promise.

You would’ve thought we’d swallowed matches,

But I knew it’d burn going down.

I can’t even remember how we ended up on this side of town.

I told my mother I was sleeping at your house,

You told your father about a slumber party at mine.

The vodka almost tasted fine,

But we promised to someday switch to expensive wine.

Our skins absorbing pigment,

And the pool calling our name.

We were at that awkward stage

When you’re still so much a child,

But you’ll do anything to feel less of the same.

This is the summer we became women and grew up far too fast.

“Let’s lose our virginities before fall begins.”

For once, with this promise I wasn’t all in,

But that didn’t stop me from giving everything to him.

Chocolate splattered the walls like galaxies do the skies.

We’d been talking for hours,

Running off whipped cream and sprinkle highs.

We hadn’t had a food fight in years.

We ate ice cream in our underwear,

And you wished me a happy 23 1⁄2 birthday.

We promised to never stop celebrating how far we’ve come,

Even when we’re only halfway there.

All these promises now somehow seem so petty.

I wish we would’ve promised

To never drive after that many drinks.

I wish we would’ve promised

To find God before we found husbands.

I wish we would’ve promised to never get lost in debt.

I wish we would’ve promised to forever fight for our friendship.

The Great Wall of China might as well border the state line.

Some string and a couple cups

Might be more useful than the phone line.

We haven’t talked in ages,

But you still wander through my mind.

Our hands now wrinkled and arthritic,

But I bet our pinkies might still remember how to wrap,

The way a rusty bike still remembers how to ride.

We planned for and promised so many things,

Somehow something as simple as some time and a few miles

Caught us so off guard.

Lifting a finger for you has never felt so hard.

excerpts
Like

About the Creator

April

I've loved reading and writing for as long as I can remember. I feel the most content holding a book while laying in the sun. I'm the author of a poetry collection 'Lungs Like Elephants'

@lungslikeelephants

@lemondropinkshop

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.