Idlewild

by James Frankie Thomas

I knew I liked girls, but if I hadn’t arrived at that knowledge via soft tender girl smooches, did it even count?

I blamed the M23 crosstown bus for being slow (not a total lie),

I was a person whose life was ruled by the fear of making someone mad.

I was suddenly overwhelmed by how big other people’s lives were, and how little I knew about them at any given moment.