0

Style: Poetry

Writer's Statement: I wrote this poem during an exercise at a writer's workshop. The goal was to keep writing and not stop for thirty minutes, so my strategy was to count down from a certain number and add whatever details came to mind. After the workshop, I revisited this piece and edited it into what it is today.

26 is when I hope to have my dream job

I don’t know what it is, just that it has to be big

25 is when I hope to travel to Morocco with college friends

Whichever friends agree to go, I don’t mind

24 is when I hope to be free from school

Freedom would be nice

23 is when I’ll still be deciding on things

What things? Not sure, just that there will be plenty

22 I’ll be nearing the end of school

21 but I’ll have already had my first drink

20 and I’ll feel so alive

19 and I’ll know I’m really growing up

18 and I’ll realize I’m like all the seniors before me 

who are leaving the town they’ve spent perhaps a decade or more in

17 and I’m here right now typing in my white-walled childhood bedroom,

believing that I’m still 16 or even 15 on some days

or maybe not even that old yet

maybe 14 and celebrating her birthday with her two close friends

still feeling like she’s 13 

but thinking like she’s 12

still remembering what it was like to be 11

who at that time thought that was so old

much older than 10

who was celebrating double digits 

having come from 9

thinking that the difference between that age and 8 was so big

but not as big the difference as between 7 and 6

because that was kindergarten to first grade

and you could only go to the big kid playground when you were in first grade

not when you were 5, who could hardly even remember the birthday you turned 4

not to mention when you turned 3

which at the time had felt so close to when you turned 2 for your parents

who were still thinking about when you were just 1 years old

and even brighter in their memories

when you were 0.