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Wednesday, March 2  

You

You are the reason, the why, the (remember) when. You’re thought of all the time, even though you might not know it. She holds you, hot against her heart, rubbing the image of you with her mind’s thumb. Polishing you. Keeping you alive.

Like you were just yesterday. Even when you’re today.

You pron. 1. The person being addressed.

Vic has a host of "yous", the people who changed her, made her hurt, hollowed her or made her happy. She loves all of them, differently, but purely. Without reason.

You are her heart, outside herself. Run off to live a life all its own. You are doughy legs, wide eyes, crazy hair. Cookie smeared on your face. You are her greatest love.

You are the unexpected grail of years of blind pursuit. You are tall, tall, taller than trees. You are softhearted and basic, but not simple. She realizes after living with you a year, that you were the one fate promised. This fact astounds her. You are him.

You are the one she thought she’d end up with.

You are her friend. Her most trusted. You are the only phone call she’ll answer without hesitation.

You are the uneven rock overlooking the atlantic on which she built her leaning house. You’re also the shifting sea that laps at her foundations. She thought of you as her exit strategy, that one day she’d just go ahead and fall in. You have many faces. She has kissed every one.

You, she’s afraid of. When she drives by you on the street, her veins seem to open too wide and she gets dizzy with fear. You are a very uncomfortable situation. A hard wooden plank for a bad back. She would rather forget you, but never will.

posted by Vic | 3/02/2005 11:37:00 AM | 2 comments

Comments:

You have a knack for writing in a way that is both vivid and unsettling in the best sense of the word.

Or perhaps it's just this post, the reaction to the second person pronoun, that makes it so much more personal.

Either way, thank you.
 

That's what I loved about the word. It's so personal because we all have a you, many even. And we all *are* a you at the same time. It's vague and real and malleable, that word.
 

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