Framed Memory

“when did we become friends?”
-Wanda Coleman

Polkadots and feathers fill my head
as I pack my photographs in dusty boxes,
hauling them into the attic.

I listen as the floorboards speak.
I hear their whispers to one another,
their breath blowing onto my feet.
My skin chills with each step,
their cold words tattooed onto my skin.

I place the box onto a pile of magazines,
Vanity Fair, Cosmo, Vogue.
Dust floats like feathers,
tinted sunlight breaking through the window.

I pull a photograph out of the box
and stare as dust settles on the frame.
Two girls jump on a bed, pillows raised high.
Their feet curled up and their hair standing tall.
They’re floating, like the feathers, like the dust.
Time stands still, paused, frozen.

I place the photograph back in the box
and fold the tabs on the top.
As I walk away, I listen to the boards continue
their whispering, talking behind my back
like two little girls gossiping
at a sleepover.

Cassandra Skweres is a junior at Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 located in Downtown Pittsburgh. She has been attending CAPA since 6th grade and will be continuing to study literary until she graduates. Cassandra enjoys to write, dance, sing, and do photography.