i love you like dark rain muddy feet like melting to sleep
and into nightmares in which you are here and not
here and either way it hurts love you like gas stations at 2 am
and coca cola that only tastes like home when it is washing down
rum or gin and i’m thinking about skeletons love you like deciding
to jump before looking at the ground like how it only takes
three minutes for the sky to change from purple to black love you
like tea that burns my tongue but i drink anyway and fireworks
too close to the ground and something exhilarating and horrifying
and unreal love you like moving out and spicy dishes with names
i can’t pronounce like screaming at the car wash touching like you’ll
never let go love like smiles and excuses love like
bullshit apologies and cold eyes love like
walking away from you. love like
walking toward something better.

Lydia Wang is a 19-year-old writer, feminist, and caffeine enthusiast. Originally from Boston, she now lives in New York, where she studies creative writing and topics in social and cultural analysis at NYU. In her free time, she likes to spend too much money at the bookstore and fall in love with strangers on public transportation. Her poetry is forthcoming in The Rising Phoenix Review. Visit her online at poemsbylydia.tumblr.com.

Cassoday Harder is a twenty-year-old photographer inspired by youth, femininity, and summer. View more of her work on Flickr or visit her website.