Twenty Two

I have a friend

Books are her life

The classics, the greats

Gatsby and Galt

They speak to her

And she speaks enough on them

To fill her own volumes and

She never visits them

Anymore

They lay forgotten

Collecting dust

As her new friends

Captains and ryes

Take the place

Of Ender and Lestat

A mere two decades in this world

A time for mistakes

And second chances

Forgiveness and learning

But her mistakes are etched

Into her skin

A mere two decades in this world

And already the needle

Marking the flesh

Making words she swore she'd never regret

Has been covered by laser

Leaving scars

On top of scars

We have led charmed lives

Well fed and educated

And counting down the days

Of our youth

While others lay starving

Whether for food or for love

We make pacts

To have our own babies

Our own little bundles

Of bygone cash and dreams

If you have no one

And I'm alone

And we've reached the godforsaken age of

Thirty

Already willing to settle

For a man who loves children

But not girls

We take long drags

Holding the hope in with the burning

The fear with the cancer

Praying we won't end up like our parents

Divorced and bitter

And so we make their mistakes

And call them our own

As the dreams flow like vodka

In our cups

But like water down the drain

When we remember that our parents

Were once like us

With dreams

And bodies

And youthful energy

And we try to imagine where it went

And then we try not to

Because it's fleeting

And I'm quickly losing

My best

Childbearing years

But I'm still a child myself

And dear God

My mother at my age

Had me and my brother

And two years older than I am now

She got the job that she's had for the last

Eighteen years

And at forty two

She's finally happy

And she's just gotten it right

And she loves me and my brother

But she got married too young

So I love as though it will never die

And all too soon

I run from the loving arms

Because maybe

Maybe

Her mistake was not running

Soon enough

Fast enough

And those arms might never know

That I love the smell of linseed oil

The feel of charcoal on my fingers

That the cheesiest lines make me laugh

That I don't sing in front of people

But I sing in the car

As loud as I can

And I am not ready to stop running

A mere two decades in this world

Reviews

[Sami Khalil]

A splendid read and write...Thank you for posting...:)

[Brenden Taylor]

This is great. Content is very intuitive and cerebral. And I'm digging the literary allusions - "Gatsby and Galt" being my personal favorite. It would seem, judging from the structure, that the end-all hope in this piece comes from eventually getting to where the "mother" is - which is very common, no matter how many won't openly admit it like you have.

Overall, very nice.

(P.S. Reminds me of Chbosky.)

[ayosonolowo]

Wow,
greatly done
nice written

[Acucena G.]

welcome to writerscafe.org , by the way its a wonderful poem , nicely pen'd. I really liked it

[TL Boehm]

Oh wow. This one took ME back to when I was young and all the things that tumbled through my mind. The friends I had, the things they did. That gnaw of the clock - being in that place where our forward is our parents backward.
Impressive write.

[JordanIsaacSmith]

Fantastic poem! This really was great, it's a deep look into a young woman's life, right? Twenty years old, I think? This poem seems to have lots of hidden meaning and I'm still trying to work it out thoroughly, and to me - that's what helps make poetry more enjoyable! Great job with this, I love it.