“a love letter to eighteen” by Wyatt McColough

i hope you wake up to sunshine

streaming in your windows,

illuminating the posters and painted walls

you call home.

i hope your heart is just as light,

safe in the knowledge that

you are safe.

you are safe.

i hope your home is quiet,

that you only hear raindrops -

no clamor,

no cries,

no fear.

i hope you open your windows.

that you let in the sun,

the rain,

the air.

it sticks to your fingertips.

i hope you eat a bagel,

or oatmeal with peanut butter,

or coffee cake,

or apple juice boxes with the wings up.

i hope you walk around topless

because there’s nothing for tops to hide.

do your boxers still fit you?

do you have cool patterned ones yet?

i hope you live with someone you love

and who loves you right back.

it doesn’t have to be romantic,

but you know that already.

i hope you hear your name every day

and it sounds like a lyre on mount olympus,

like a crackling fire,

a carnival in july.

i hope you live.

that every goddamned day you wake up,

you have something to look forward to,

even if that something is just

life itself.

i hope you make it.

Wyatt McColough is a queer, non-binary writer from the Chicago suburbs. You can find them chronically online @dogmotiif on Instagram.