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Poet Allison Hasting writes: I am a student at Endicott College working towards my bachelor’s in English/Creative Writing. I value time spent with family and friends and believe in the mantra ‘everything happens for a reason.’ I may always dream with my head in the clouds, but I think it’s a little more exciting to live life that way. In the future, I’d love to travel to as many new places as possible, so that unique cultural experiences continue to broaden my perspective on the world and inspire more story ideas.

London Sentiments

Allison Hasting

Walking the streets of London at age 18

With a heart, freshly sore

I tried to paint a new scene –

One that did not include you.

I took in the colors of the city

A canvas so bright and full of promise

And felt renewed in the hope

That a rearrangement in perspective was possible

Holding onto a tiny belief

That a new coating of memories

Would be enough to cover up

The remaining fragments of your silhouette.

I breathed new life into familiar sights

And tried envisioning myself as a free spirit

Recalling what it felt like the first time

I rode those red double-decker buses,

Listened to musicians playing in Trafalgar Square,

And sauntered through the night chaos

Content to wander aimlessly

Underneath the warm glow of street lights.

Slowly but surely

New memories started to seal in my mind,

Like wax hardening as it cools.

But my beautiful mirage began to melt

Under the pressure of a thousand,

Unspoken words

And the worn-out memories of the past

Quickly bled, like old faded watercolors

Back into the foreground of your city.

I suppose I was a fool to think

I could paint over your remnants.

You were always going to be the afterimage

And I the sweeping brush

Forever trying to cover the stain

You left on my heart.

— Allison Hasting

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