Playing Favorites

A Poem

Photo by Oleg Onchky on Unsplash

maybe i’m just too fickle
with the way my heartstrings
tangle and knot and twist
as love leans my way

there was one,
then two,
then three —
and i couldn’t choose

but fascination was small
compared to what you did to me
when you became all i saw through the glass

and i should have left you
in the rearview mirror
as i sped away

but life is more complicated than that

maybe i’ve never known love
that’s unconditional and fair
because i still get jealous
as if i’m just a child

i remember how i fought
with my friends
over the crushes
we shared

but infatuation makes us blind
and it turns us against each other
because all our hearts want the same thing

and i should have learned
my lesson, my lesson, my lesson
from the first time