Eight hours of work, eight hours must I sleep,
I can only weep, I realize my life is passing by,
Oh O O O Om . . .
My life gets in the way of living.

Creative people try and lonely people sigh,
I can only weep, I realize my life is passing by,
Oh O O O Om . . .
My life gets in the way of living.

    Travels I would make, cause my heart to break,
    For misery and ecstasy are one.
    Tibetan book of the dead, red rivers I have bled
    And temple walls, they speak of—

My life gets in the way of living.

Years spent in school, we learn but never do
And if you have a woman, or a man,
Your life is spent, by a factor of ten,
Oh O O O Om . . .
My life gets in the way of living.

One day we're going to be a "real couple." I'll invite you over, and you won't have to park around the corner. Maybe it'll even be when my parents are home. Maybe I won't need to sneak out. For now, you pull into the driveway of the church on the next street—but I don't mind the walk.

One day we'll be able to go on our First Official Date. We can go to that restaurant you like downtown, and I'll borrow a dress from my best friend because none of mine will look right. I think I'll love the city even more when I'm walking through it with you. For now we're grabbing fast food on stolen time, trying to get back to school before anyone notices we're gone. We get away with it every time.

One day I'll be able to spend the night. You'll wear those neon green sweatpants and I'll laugh at you for them, but you'll probably look good anyway. We'll watch old movies, like the one where Robin Williams and young Matt Damon go see about a girl, or the one where Audrey Hepburn spends her time in jewelry stores and doesn't name her cat. For now I can only come over for enough time to watch a few episodes of a show about a paper-selling company. I like it, though. I've always loved the theme song, and your laugh is still one of the best things I've ever heard.

One day I'll get in your car and we'll spend hours driving around, exploring and seeing where we end up. I won't worry about traffic being slow or getting caught, and you'll play your music as loud as we can take it while we try to find the best places around here to get lost. For now we talk about running away on the way back to my parents' world, and I wish with all my heart that we could one day. You don't let go of my hand the entire car ride.

One day I'll be free to make my own choices, and you'll be the only option that I want. For now I'm sixteen, and you're seventeen, and we're both young and naïve, and we both make wishes at 11:11. My favorite kisses are the ones that taste like your coffee, and you laugh at me for the time last year when I only liked tea. Sometimes I'm not good at hiding how sheltered I've been growing up, but you never seem to care. You make fun of my poetry, but I keep writing it anyway. I make fun of you for being way too into weight lifting, but I agree to try it with you sometime. And there's a lot we don't really know yet—but with everything I am, I love you and I love you and I love you, and that's exactly how I know that one day we'll be able to be anything and everything we want to be.

For now that's all I can say. But "one day" is much less of a daydream and much more of a promise.

I fell in love only once
I didn't know what it was
at the time
it was only lust
it was only a game to see who would fall broken hearted first
to see who'd dare to say those words that mean so much
to see who'd forget that things in this world don't last forever
to tell a story of misery
to see who'd become sick and bored first
but then we shared secrets and danced while drinking ***** under the moonlight

Privilege
I have it,
supposedly,
unannounced
to me.

I was born,
brown hair,
green eyes,
fair skin,
poor
and hungry.

But oh so privileged.

To speak up in whatever company I choose,
To walk late at night with a hoodie pulled down, just over my eyes
To strive
achieve
succeed
without others being surprised

I know no threat
from cops,
employers,
or admissions advisors.

I see no intimidation
from statistics,
labels,
or slurs.

I have the privilege
of being completely unaware
of my own

privilege
I'll use it,
hopefully,
for everyone
you'll see.