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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.
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
Instagram/Twitter: @escapadier
Website: uncuratedspace.com
