by Kayla Pongrac
So I’m walking down my high school hallway asking my classmates to sign my yearbook when Adam stops me between my locker and the classroom in which we learn about past and present wars and he says, ‘Hey, what about me?’ so I quickly pull a pen from my back pocket and watch him scribble a note that reads, SHINE ON YOU CRAZY DIAMOND. –ADAM and I am confused because first of all, I am not a diamond and second of all I don’t identify as crazy, but I shrug my shoulders and keep working my way down the hallway, stopping everyone who may have something kind to dust on these pages, maybe a few good words to share about how they wish me good luck in college and beyond and even though we’ll never see each other again after we graduate I hope that you’ll get to travel the world and drink exotic teas and successfully grow orchids in your living room and never doubt yourself because one day many years from now, you’ll be sitting in the passenger seat of your dad’s truck and a Pink Floyd song will play from his speakers and all of a sudden you’ll remember that maybe you had the potential to shine on, that perhaps the diamond to which Adam was referring is still spinning like a top on your bathroom sink where you have spent many mornings noticing little drops of blood fall and mix with white dollops of shaving cream, creating a light pink shade that somehow – and you’re not quite sure how – reminds you of that long hallway.
– Kayla Pongrac is an avid writer, reader, tea drinker, and vinyl record spinner. When she’s not writing creatively, she’s writing professionally – for two newspapers and a few magazines in her hometown of Johnstown, PA. To read more of Kayla’s work, visit www.kaylapongrac.com or follow her on Twitter @KP_the_Promisee.
Oblong 