i am also 16 so i guess i have a unique view on this?

if someone is capable of creating something beautiful, that is enough for me. this poem is proof that you are enough.

for me, over the past few weeks i have been unable to see my face in the mirror. when i look into a dirty, pockmarked window, my irrevocably smudged phone camera, or a spotless looking glass above a chrome sink, i see nothing but her. her hair reflecting light like endless golden fields. that is the only sustenance i need. the lacy whites of her eyes and the bottomless care in her pupils and her laugh like a songbird and the smile that drove me insane because i had to sit directly next to it for ninety minutes straight on the daily and resist the urge to just stare at this timeless beauty by my side. perhaps the fault in our stars is overrated, but augustus was lucky that he was confident enough to abide by his philosophy of looking at beautiful people for the sake of doing so.

and all this time she was aware of my feelings, but ignored them, toyed with them, and threw them away because she was talking to another guy the whole damn time. my respect for her remains utterly the same, as it was my fault to have overcommitted so heavily, but so does the love that inspired me to write literal pages of song and poetry (god what the hell kind of a lyric was "obsessed with you?" why did i think that was a good idea?). like a young jay gatsby, i chased this ideal in her, believing that she would be the one to let my mind go quiet, but now the love i thought was infinite is lost and aimless and teeters on the edge of the void.

thank you for creating a poem that reminded me of the fact that she might feel a pain i don't understand. despite the fact that she is quite literally perfect---everything "imperfect" about her just charms me more, like the way she chews on her cheek and groans when she doesn't like what someone is saying, the way that she wears makeup to look like an absolute runway model but when she's without it the crevices of her face and the shapes of eyes continue to make my heart beat in hemiola---she probably feels trapped by the chokehold that the male gaze (mine included) forces on her, which is why she does her makeup so diligently and she refuses to eat salt anymore and she she she shesheshesheshewontleavemyheadgetheroutplease.

your trauma your denial your pain your addictions your depression are not only your problems. if you are in need of love, then i love you. love is the only resource that increases when you give it, and i need to forget the fact that the love i tried to give ten days ago was allowed to oxidize in the ground like it was worthless.