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*Please note:  this poem is best viewed on a desktop device.  If you are using a mobile device, please click HERE to view a PDF version of Emily's poem.

Emily Nabnian

Red/Skater Boys

​red likes speed                jumps high                   til then
      i’d never seen anybody              move like that
so beautifully and so languidly               with his grace
      red rides and red defies             gravity             all at once
tattoos lace            his left arm                  and like his feet too
      they map out             some typa music               just like
him        yes                      the way he waits n            the way he
skates and                i stand there and listen to the whir
               the rich rush             of boys             in this city
landing tricks                 they cut through air

so cold            for a night like this           full moon looming
              bove barely august

baby life’s bouta change               they say                    n
                something’s sticking to these feet
which are my feet                  which are their feet             glued

to roughened boards              like hands                 that have
      touched me before              and                      in that way
this too was like jazz             so blue n bound up

                        in discipline                 had me wondering
if all that matters           bleeds from some typa matter
              it looks and feels               it escapes like this

boys who skate            like this              airborne n yet still
born from            it’s true              i never saw nobody
              suspended like this           softness remaining
upended like this           both a prayer                    and a risk
      sometimes the feeling like               amaze me baby
                       it was a dance and so we danced
been waiting my whole life             to ask you to dance
fell right back into myself                like the way i glimpsed
      dusk                on a california highway               one summer
n i been in america you see            so words like
              highway                    you see                       stood still
whilst they moved on around me                    they kept
      throwin their weight round              around me
but i loved their clothes                  their sway and their style
shirts flail baggy              tunes blue              n airpods hangin
      they couldn’t stop                                       those boys
                                beautiful skater boys
from commanding n announcing vitality               red
              he never looks at me                he moves so lithely
so desperately              you see these boys
                        they always come back to me
returning’s a typa gorgeous                  very specific
      to girls like me                 loops round stone boulders
n amaze me baby                          circles like constellations
   the skater boys are skating            gliding high
in their great rotation           sometimes the feeling like
                       amaze me baby                                  by the time
you ask the time          i’ll tell you the time has changed
              but red likes speed          jumps high
red is shorter than the rest of the guys                    til then
                       i’d never seen anybody move like that
and me                           me i’m moving to new york city
              next week
i swear i’d never seen anybody             move like that
              red tells me              i might never still. 

Biography

Emily Nabnian is a New York-based Londoner who also lives on/off in Brazil. She is currently studying graphic design, has a degree in English Literature and dabbles in pretty much everything.

Instagram/Twitter: @escapadier
Website: uncuratedspace.com
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