Warning: This book is recommended for ages 12+ Warning: This book is recommended for ages 12+. However I would say it needs to be a mature 12. Be aware of the content before putting it on your bookshelf.

The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan

Summary One school. Twenty voices. Endless possibilities. There's the girl who is in love with Holden Caulfield. The boy who wants to be strong who falls for the girl who's convinced she needs to be weak. The girl who writes love songs for a girl she can't have. The two boys teetering on the brink of their first anniversary. And everyone in between. As he did in the highly acclaimed Boy Meets Boy, David Levithan gives us a world of unforgettable voices that readers will want to visit again and again. It's the realm of possibility open to us all - where love, joy, and the stories we tell will linger. (Goodreads)

On the Inside that night I told you to be careful in the way I could not be careful myself. you left the party and I walked from drink to drink wishing the best for you, knowing it was the worst for me. it is a horrible wonderful thing to be in love with you. to get to hear you sing for hour after hour but never be the subject of the song. to listen and listen and listen. I carry your equipment to gigs. I am your ride home, your calendar. I let you choose the radio station, the time. and in return, yours is the only goodnight I ever need. I’ve lost track of where friendship ends and falling begins. (this is the foolish refrain of the hopelessly devoted.) there are ties I want to kiss you midsentence. undo the not-doing with one gesture. but I hesitate in the wondering. she’s taken the place that was never mine. you and i have our sad misdirected love in common. only yours sings out, while mine is a voice left on the inside. I bide my time, pick at the petals, play the good best friend. you ask me what I’m looking for, and I outline you. you don’t recognize the shape, offer other names. you say my time will come, and I hope.

I know this is how the world works. it would be funny, if it wasn’t my heart. she is the weakness you think of as strength. while I am the strength you have no idea is there. I am the one who knows who you are. I want you to be happy. and you could be with me. (Page 55-56)

Extension 1. Would you consider this a sappy/mush love poem or a sincere sentiment of the heart? Why? 2. The speaker says being in love with this person is a “horrible wonderful thing.” Explain what that might mean. 3. Why do you think the poem is titled, “On the Inside?” 4. How would you characterize the speaker of the poem? 5. Write a response to this person in a five line poem.