quintessence

i. sadness  

rain rushes down outside the math classroom

heat is cranked up, the inside swells warmer

i know that i should pay attention—

try to scrape up my grade from the puddle it’s in 

but it never rains, so today feels special

it never rains, so eyes drift

from the board to the window 

water turns the pavement a darker gray

the rain makes me think of things i believe

are more important than math—like poetry

the weather always seems to match my mood 

ii. youth

i remember when you said you never liked going to parties

you told me no one was ever really there 

you liked to smoke on your own, to observe 

i wanted to be inside it all, i always did 

i think of our conversation when i do just that 

when i’m a little drunk, when i see you in your corner

new black hair, same dumb friends 

when i remember what you were like 

and carry on the same 

iv. hope

the city is alive in summer

it’s warm, it’s June

everyone descends from fifty-story buildings 

flooding the streets, the parks, every sidewalk 

i know New York is for everyone

the shitty tourists, 

the homeless guy outside our building

who my professor says we should invite to our gallery opening

my mom’s billionaire friend, the rats, oh—and you

quintessence, n.

figurative. The most typical example of a category or class; the most perfect embodiment of a certain type of person or thing.

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