"like a hand gently cracking a new book’s cover, ready to understand"

14 June 2021: This is a really lovely and aching poem: "September 23, 2016," by Rachel Mennies. 

An excerpt:

"In college, I got ready for a party with two women I loved who loved each other.

I watched Diana flip Jean’s hair from her freckled shoulders before zipping her into her dress:
the same gesture I’d made in the mirror, alone, before I arrived at their apartment.

I watched them pass Jean’s mascara wand fluently between them, one’s licked fingers curling the other’s lashes, and a question split me at my spine—

like a hand gently cracking a new book’s cover, ready to understand."