Finalist, 2025 Contest for Flash Creative Nonfiction
I want the shorts, the sweatshirts, the hairbands, the half empty packets of gum, the index cards with illegible scribbles, the worn cowboy boots, every gift I ever gave you, the half-full bottles of nail polish, whatever is left of your deodorant, the evidence bag containing your phone – shattered from the crash; I debate wooing your boyfriend until he loves me, I want his hands, his love – I want to make it mine, the flute you played in band through middle school and high school, the books you read, the photos you took, where did you keep your camera again? The makeup, the dresses you wore to church, every single piece of jewelry that ever touched your skin, the shampoo and conditioner from the bathroom, the minutes you spent in the shower, the way you licked your fingers after eating a bag of Funyuns, the red birthmark on your left arm, the bright blue of your veins peeking through your thighs when you got cold, the sunflower shells covered with spit in the frisbee by your bed, the kisses you shared with boys, the hugs you gave to all your friends, the secrets you kept, the passwords to your profiles, the messages you received, the conversations you had, the dreams you dreamt, the thoughts you kept to yourself, the hair left in your hairbrush, the love you had for anyone who wasn’t me, the way you chewed the edge of your bottom lip when thinking – I want it all.
Tori Walters is a writer and educator based in Texoma. Her poetry has been shortlisted in Spellbinder Magazine and her writing featured in publications such as Anti-Heroin Chic, Mythic Picnic, and Penultimate Peanut. Tori reads and edits creative nonfiction for Variant Literature, was a resident of the NES Artist Residency in 2023, and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She works at Austin College as a staff writer.
Image Credit: Flickr Creative Commons/Twilight Jones
Beautiful and powerful. Thank you for sharing
Beautiful writing, Tori. This brought me to tears.