People I Once Knew: A Study of Friendship

People I Once Knew: A Study of Friendship is a collection of poems about the people who shape us, leave us, return to us, and sometimes remain only as memories. Friendship is often treated as something secondary to romance, yet some of our deepest loves, losses, and transformations happen between friends. These poems explore that space: the tenderness of being known, the ache of growing apart, the confusion of betrayal, and the difficult work of finding yourself after someone you trusted becomes a stranger.

Much of this collection was inspired by conversations with my friend Bella, who generously shared her experiences of grieving an old friendship and navigating the complicated emotions that followed. Through stories of love, hurt, resentment, forgiveness, and self-discovery, she helped me think more deeply about what friendship asks of us and what it leaves behind when it ends. While the poems themselves are my own, they were shaped by her lived experiences and the questions that came up.

The photographs accompanying this collection were taken by me during a shoot with Bella in Rouge Valley Park. We spent the afternoon wandering through trails and reminiscing on old memories. These pictures are part of the poems themselves. Just like a tree continues to grow, we learn to continue moving forward after loss, which is poetry in itself, I believe.

Poetry by Kai Oszlai, with inspiration drawn from Bella's lived experiences. Photography by Kai Oszlai. Modelling by Bella Tsang.

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Transcript of poems:

i think the strangest part is that i

never pictured an ending.

you were just there, the way certain

streets are there when you’re learning

to drive.

i spent so much time thinking

about the future, and somehow,

every version of it included

you.

every once in a while,

something good happens,

and i still turn to tell

you before i remember

there isn’t anyone

there to turn to

anymore. 

we were always measuring things.

height against door frames, birthdays,

who got there first.

it took me a while to realise

the thing we were measuring

was time.

we were seedlings

pretending to be trees

all awkward branches

and roots too shallow

for the weather coming.

somehow we stayed.

and while we were busy

becoming ourselves,

we became part of each other too.

i don't know where my story ends

and yours begins anymore,

only that when i look back,

every version of me

is standing next to you.

i keep thinking about how you can sit

right beside someone for years

share gum, playlists, stupid jokes, winters

and still end up

not knowing what exactly made them turn away

like a chair you didn’t realise was wobbly

until you were already on the floor

it’s weird how a forest can feel loud

even when nothing’s happening.

leaves shifting like they’re talking about you,

branches snapping like inside jokes you’re not part of anymore.

i kept standing still waiting for something to explain itself,

but the ground didn’t do that thing

where it tells you where to go next.

i remember being fifteen and

certain i understood the world

and being sixteen and finding out 

i didn’t.

doesn’t everyone start out as a stranger?

it’s like when you text someone twice

and they reply to the second one first

and you start wondering if the first one

was too much or just wrong somehow

that’s how it felt losing her

like i said something normal

and it still came back to me

like a silence i caused