selective memory
there is a glass bottle in my throat
and i put it there
but now i cannot breathe
or drink a cup of water;
and in the bottle is a little slip of paper
that i didn’t—
don’t want to lose
screaming is preferable to crying,
but neither can be done
with this bottle in my throat
flip onto my hands, heels overhead
and it tumbles out, chipping my tooth on the way
landing with a clink on the ground
and there it is—
i tip the letter out of the bottle
that i saved
even if no one else does, i still do
i do not remember what it means
but my heart flutters anyway
Piper Wilson is an 18-year-old student at Bowdoin College, originally from Pittsford, NY. She began writing poetry in 2017 and was first published in Teen Ink in 2021. One of her poems received a Scholastic Silver Key in 2022. In her free time, she enjoys classical piano and dancing; she is hoping to study Neuroscience or Mathematics.
