school
i put pen to a page put fingers to keys and stretch my limbs
gotta get ready to run
for once i look back and think
this isn't cowardice
the words of my father bounce off of my second skin,
wasp-proof and kissing-safe
the realization that I could buy cigarettes and never smoke them
just because I can
i keep thinking about so many strings attached to me  attached to the words
eighteen
and then i think about
cutting them one by one
i am who i am
and i am nobody unless i want to be.