Tonight's Poet Corner: High School Crush
High School Crush by Belinda Roddie You sidelined me - I was already far removed from the center of combat - and you gave me something to smile at. You were in the middle of my vision, dealing karate chops with gentle precision to my heart, even though you didn't aim directly; it wasn't your mission. I couldn't figure out where to start. I was smitten with you. I knew that smitten meant "strongly attracted," but the way I reacted, you'd think I didn't understand the implications. I was fifteen. I wore my grandmother's class ring, a gift for my Catholic confirmation. So maybe the confusion made some sense, my thoughts clouded like filling my nostrils with burning incense. Everything still smelled so sweet. We didn't officially meet until a year later, in drama class, where I flailed in front of an audience, a shadow in search of a script, a poet who didn't know how to perform verse, and the theater blitz winded me. Sti