Teenage me: the boys 

I wanted to be with 
were the ones I (thought I) 
understood;  
ones I could see 
(in some cases, 
  despite their own blinders) 
their trauma. Drama 
sought out drama, until 
the de-rigueur dating assault 
sent me both somewhere darker 
and sharper: I tolerated less, 
desired more. This is not 
where these words 
were going, when they began 
in my head. This was supposed 
to be about being Demi 
long before there was a word 
for it. How ‘Sapiosexual’ worked 
briefly in that space: placeholder 
like I’ve been 
in so many lives.