Some of the Things that I Do Not Know:
How to make the blinds go down
the first time it is attempted;
the names of all the fifty states, their star-
studded capitals to match; what
kind of chemicals make soda
that crisp, why I should be
worried about it; all the ways
one can say hello,
all the avoidant ways to say
goodbye; the difference
between tan &
beige &
khaki; how
one wears white pants
successfully, ever;
the marvel of fingers, how they move
precise & punctuated;
when, exactly, pasta is cooked
the right amount, whether
Italians of the past cry
as I chuck spaghetti at the wall;
how to dress for the weather
without somehow being too hot or
too cold or
both, at the same time;
the witchcraft that allows someone
to look comfortable in any picture, ever,
even the ones you don’t know
are being taken;
the art of texting
without sounding like your grandma,
but also not boring,
but also not like I am maybe
mad at you (which I’m not!
I’m just in desperate need
to figure out the right tonal qualities
of a text & when punctuation
is appropriate, or
if it’s ever appropriate).
Some of the things I do know
for sure,
probably; depending
on who you ask
& whether or not they are in a forgiving mood:
that every morning
the birds outside my window sing;
there is no other way that I would choose
to be woken;
that I practically have to chase
my teenage brother out
of my room,
that he refuses to bug
anyone else in this way; people
in my life
come to me for advice,
for support,
even when I have no
prior personal experience because they know
it will still be given
with
great
care;
that thoughtful notes in cards
make me cry, even the seventeenth time;
that I didn’t tell
my colorblind grandfather
my birthday cake was
neon orange & blue, not
brown
(and that it could have been
highlighter green
& I wouldn’t have loved it
any less);
that there is love, here, right now, always;
if only you were to just reach your hands out
& grab it.
Kendall Cruise is a junior English (creative writing) and adolescence education major at SUNY Geneseo. When not obsessively revising their latest piece of writing, she can be found constructing hyper-specific playlists or on The Sims. They are a section editor for their college’s newspaper, The Lamron, and have been previously published in Gandy Dancer and Iris Magazine.