Cathleen Kivett Smith
Cat Kivett Smith is a high school junior in Florida with a passion for writing. She is currently in her school’s International Baccalaureate program and plans on pursuing a career in business. Cat participates in activities such as All-County Academic Team and the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s student advisory program.
A Pre-Splintered Suggestion
by Cathleen Kivett Smith
maybe you can trade the vase
toss it back to you and again to her
softly slapping palms and cupping the glass
every month or so
pluck some soggy-ended blossoms
dirt still hanging off the edge in clumps
pouring itself back in the crevices of the earth
when you clasp the stem too hard
and maybe you can pick different ones
each time for her
with a frank little love letter that you
couldn’t spell half right if you tried because
your dictionary had the second side
ripped right off
the jacket anyway
and maybe if you did all that extra carefully
then the vase wouldn’t detonate
into a shower of volatile edges,
whettened-points that didn’t even shown direction—right
or wrong
not even yielding to the floor that held you upright
and her I guess
and maybe the flowers wouldn’t actually
be embers that burnt the tips of your fingers
into pudged-up puddles
the second you tried to go back and
touch the flickering petal
that you still swear was the most
beautiful flower anyone’s ever seen
and I believe you