and the days are getting shorter.
Hours into minutes into seconds,
squished together like nesting dolls
until they are lost to infinity. You don't

know the value of sleep yet,
so read your dog-eared paperbacks
by the muted glow of your flashlight,
hidden under your blankets like a

prodigal son. Keep your heavy eyes open
because the pictures in your books
will silently climb out of their pages
while you're asleep, escaping through your

bedroom window. Your bones are getting longer
and your book bag is getting heavier.
So spend your precious seconds wisely,
because as the years change, those seconds will get shorter.

You are the sun in the solar system,
Somehow pulling everyone into your orbit.
Even passer by asteroids like myself
Get captured and entranced
By the gravitas of your enigma.
Forever stuck in the same trajectory,
Always circling back to you.
How do you do it?

I met you in the winter, and I remember
Your hair burned like autumn leaves.
Like a fresh cup of coffee on the skin,
Like embarrassed, flushed red cheeks,
And like the suffocating stage lights.

I wished my tone was as warm as yours,
I wished my brain was as bright as yours,
I wished my words were as illuminating as yours.
But for now, all I can do is help you
Clean up your mess with my cold hands.

My name is Holden Caulfield,
And I might just be a fool.
Picking fights and calling names,
Failing out of private school.

My house is my tombstone,
And killing time is killing me
Like the smoking cigarette
Perched between my teeth.

I'm trading my innocence
For a bottle of apathy
Because the harsh light of reality
Is beating down on me.

I'm so brain dead and bored,
I'm almost six feet in the ground.
Chasing after nothing at all,
A carousel spinning round and round.

I went on a small vacation
To avoid my fate by passing time.
Is idly watching life go by
A punishable crime?

A bunch of plans in my head,
but they're all half hearted.
I'm lacking a catalyst,
but the reaction never started.

I'm the leading actor
In my own theatrical tragedy.
Should I just burn my script,
Instead of becoming a casualty?

I just want to be a kid again,
And put my problems on pause.
I'm fighting against growing up,
A martyr for a dying cause.

I call everyone a phony,
But the truth is still the same.
I'm a smart aleck feigning stupid,
With only himself to blame.