I wonder when you wake up.
I wonder if you like blueberries in your pancakes?
If you spent summers in a lakehouse or working or maybe both?

I wonder what you thought you would become when you were in kindergarten
and were told to write down your dream for the classroom wall?
Was it a doctor or a mechanic?
Did you see yourself in an office
or unchained?
Worried less of permanence
and more of joy.

I wonder what music you listen to while you study?
I wonder if you care when your shoes are muddy and worn?
I wonder if you look your barista in the eye as they hand you your coffee?

Do you like coffee?
or do you prefer tea?

Would you laugh at that question and say “chamomille?”
or would you wonder why I cared?

I wonder if you’ve ever listened to Sinatra
and wished for that elegance?
To feel free and in love with the idea of romance.

Or maybe
you’re like me
and daydream instead of what could be,
might be?

Someday.

I wonder if I’ll read this to you?
I would if your response will be simple answers to my inquiries
because these questions
though trivial facts to an average glimpse.

Let me see past all of your quips
and into “You.”

A “You” I have not met.
A “You” I have not seen.
A “You” I have not heard.

Into “You.”
Someone I could love,
might love.

Someday.

Words from the Author
Kaitlin Otteman

There is this idea that if you look at a person’s music playlists, you’ll know way more about them than they could ever tell you. I pondered this idea and came to this conclusion. Knowing seemingly unimportant or “useless” information about a person, I believe is one of the best things about being in love. It’s knowing the little things that will make them smile, things they never thought you or anyone would remember, much less care about. I wrote this poem because I wanted to share that feeling and I wanted to make people think about their answers to those questions, and their present/future partners answers to those questions. I wrote this poem in almost a letter-like format, and I did that create an atmosphere almost like the reader is reading this to their partner. I wanted it to feel somewhat intimate and personal to the reader and hopefully they’re thinking about each line as they read it.

Revision Decision

The majority of this piece has been kept the same from my original draft. A key revision I made was the addition of the three lines describing a specific “you”. This addition was specifically to put the reader in a mindset of them picturing their future partner. They have no idea what they look like, or sound like, or what they like, but this passage’s purpose was to put emphasis on the idea of you will know all of those things someday. My second big revision was to isolate the word “someday” from the other stanzas. This was to make it stand out to the reader. I wanted them to see the drawn-out pauses that would be taken when the piece is read aloud and focus on that word, “someday”. I hope that these revisions allow the poem to be more impactful and thought-provoking to the reader.