Look, and you’ll see that
a cheating spouse
and I
are ugly
because we cannot choose an
attractive child.
I held a quarter
and thought of you:
twenty-five percent effort,
twenty-five times flipped
heads, heads, tails, tails,
twenty-five years old
serving twenty-five to life,
forever twenty-five.
They will not remember twenty-five
when you’re fifty.
Once I have everything,
I will strive for more
and plunge my lacerated shoulders
into a fountain greedily,
snatch my every dime and replace them
with quarters;
wet dollars would be cumbersome.
If you are destined for me,
if each time you wish change in the world,
my shoes are on,
pull yourself together
and join me.
But when I’m 25,
the question is over, my dear,
and I hope it ends
when my best is flattened
by your apathy
and I promise then
that I’ll leave
you.
