← Back to the archive
Visual interpretation of "I want to see you after you practice for": I want to see you after you practice for; months

No. 063

Featured
November 30, 2024·16 lines·1 min read

I want to see you after you practice for

Then choke on the big stage.

I want to see you after you practice for months Then choke on the big stage. I want to feel your heartbeat when you're surrounded in the stairwell with no friend in sight. I want to hear you cry for help, abandoned on a rooftop, when the ladder's kicked away. I want to trace your thoughts when she tells you the end might be near. I want to whisper encouragement in your ear And stand beside you And catch you when you jump So I can stare right back at you when you look me in the eyes and tell me you don't have the strength to change.

Checking who has held this poem...

Part of your record in the archive.

Sign in if you want your name to stay with the record.

Keep this one close.

Saved on this device. Part of your shelf.

Send the line onward, save the story image, or pass the poem to someone who needs it.

Share on XPinterest image

 

Sign in if you want shares and story actions to carry your name in the archive record.

If this poem stayed with you, the next one will find you.

A quieter way to stay close to the work. One poem at a time.

New poems and explorations

Delivered by Substack.

Hear the poem in one breath.

A studio reading for the archive, voiced with care and restraint.

Studio reading
I want to see you after you practice for0:00 / 0:47
Read the original post on Instagram1 likes on Instagram1 comments
Part of a living collection since September 2024.

A way further in

Not the final meaning. Just a closer read, a better question, and a few nearby poems worth opening next.

Read it once for the wound, then once more for the tenderness hidden inside the wound.

Opening line

Where the door opens.

I want to see you after you practice for

Center line

Where the temperature changes.

I want to trace your thoughts when she tells

Leaving line

The line to carry out with you.

have the strength to change.

If you came here carrying something

If you came here carrying grief, regret, or the shape of someone missing, begin here.

Longing

Good company for the nights when absence is louder than the room around you.

Stay in the archive a little longer.

If this one stayed with you, keep it. Then either leave a note, keep moving through the archive, or ask the Studio where to go next.

Notes for Collection No. 63

A guestbook for the poem itself. Leave a response, an image prompt, or an image link if it belongs in the same room.

I want to see you after you practice for

A good note starts where the poem stayed with you.

Loading notes...

Every note becomes part of the room's memory.

Say what stayed with you, what it opened up, or what line you are carrying out of the room.

Sign in if you want the room to remember your name.

The reading room

Loading notes...