“Teenage-girl fans — they don’t lie. If they like you, they’re there. They don’t act ‘too cool.’ They like you, and they tell you. Which is sick.” – Harry Styles in Rolling Stone (2017).
there is something to be said for
longing like a teenage girl, I recall
counting down the days
until christmas morning,
or the “first day back,”
or anything, really
something to be said
for the dedication; the certainty
that you can have it
or someone, or anything, really
that stretch of time before
you realize everyone, at some point
identifies with hating glitter, and their job
and everything, really
spends entire evenings shouting
with, or at, their loved ones
the answers to jeopardy
or the reasons why the other
has fallen short, again
but not teenage girls
and yet, teenage girls
are always among the first
to be told to grow up.
Aubri Kaufman is a poet and a mental health clinician from New Jersey. Her work can be found in various literary magazines, including Eunoia Review, Punk Noir, Pink Plastic House, and CttB’s Poetry Showcase. Her first poetry collection, stickerbush, is set for release in July 2022. Twitter: @aubrirose