The Music of What Happens

by Bill Konigsberg

But here’s the secret: I like tender. Maybe more than I should. I wish I could show him my heart. That’s dangerous, though. You show it and people laugh. Nothing is worse than people laughing at your open heart, which is why I think guys don’t do that so much.

His mouth is so tentative, and I wonder: Has he ever been kissed before? I want my lips to heal him, to protect him from everything. From his crazy mom. From the people who have hurt him, because no one is as tentative as Jordan without having gone through some shit.

There are the mud-flowers of dialect And the immortelles of perfect pitch And that moment when the bird sings very close To the music of what happens.”

The world will make you vulnerable. If you’re acting like you’re not, that’s what you’re doing. Acting.”