Perception Spring 2023

Emma Fiorella | White Charcoal Pencil
Wise Eyes
seasons of intimacy
Madelyn Gosselin
winter
an afternoon spent inside in hats and coats
because cold wind slips through
the cracks of your best friends’ four walls,
a home inherited from those who came before us.
robust conversation warms the room,
the raw feelings of confession are insulated
by the hoods around our ears and the blankets
we share two at a time.
spring
careful conversation in the dark on a Thursday night. we
lay on our backs, fingers intertwined under the sheets.
when you stand on the edge, here,
there’s only comfort in what comes after.
warm tears spread over four cheeks
in relief and fear of being known.
summer
a sore apology takes center stage, now,
when you’re too old to barter yourself innocent, but too
ambitious to admit you’re entirely wrong. your cheeks fill up;
hot and red opposite your best friend as she swallows
her drink down hard. it occurs to you that you’ve never felt
like her enemy before.
50 | Perception
fall
a moment of knowing between you and
a friend you always meant to get to know better. in
an apartment full of your twenty closest friends,
he contorts his face in just the right way
to make you regret that third glass of wine
because you can’t compose yourself from laughter.
Spring 2023 | 51