Allison C

We were friends when she was seven and I was eight

We used to run around the playground and pretend we were dogs

Sometimes when my mom couldn’t pick me up after school 

I’d go to her house and watch Power Rangers

Feeling even then that I was too old for it

At her house we ate chicken nuggets in the shapes of dinosaurs

And her mother praised me for doing my homework

Holding me up as an example to her daughter

For whom she bought extra workbooks

To do after school

Allison went to the same college as me

But we never said hi

Or even saw each other, as far as I [[recall]]

I don’t even know what she looks like now

Or what she would look like, if she were [[alive]]