My best friend Riley gets sad sometimes

I like how she stands with her back to the sun                     and she cuts her hair short

                      and dyes it but says it’s just self expression, not feelings.

I like how she thinks she can fool me               I like how she thinks she can lie without repercussion.

And of course I know she’s upset, says she’ll likely sever ties with every stranger she sees, but

when my best friend Riley gets sad sometimes I know that they’re who she crawls back to.

Her mind weaves itself like strings entwined in a mess, necklace chains cause she’s messy,

               earbud cords cause she doesn’t have money,                and

                I like that.

My best friend Riley only wants to be great when nobody’s looking, she only sings when the party’s died down, she only dreams when she’s sleeping.   

My best friend Riley writes things and then shreds them.

 My best friend Riley paints pictures and then scrubs the canvas,

   My best friend Riley gets sad sometimes, and you know--

                     she drives me to the brink of insanity.

I’ll listen to one song all the way home, it’ll probably be a slow one that talks about safety.

 I like when she picks the music and tells me she’ll sing these songs to my children one day.

And her voice isn’t very distinct, not at all,      but it makes babies happy      it gets the job done.

I like when she closes her eyes at the sun

I like when they fill and she gulps them away

        I like when she corrects teachers’ word choice and can speak up in crowds.

My best friend Riley gets sad sometimes and can’t use all those words to say it, but 

I wonder if I’d hear her if she said so out loud.

Her voice isn’t very distinct, not at all          but it’s read things and said things

and held and freed feelings.

   It rises and falls with the turn of the tides--nondescript.

But she’s my best friend,

             and I like how it gets the job done.