When I Am Old

In twenty years, ten feet taller
twenty years my cross is water
twenty years the pink karma flows
into my thirty-five-year-old earlobes
thirty five, my green bones cracked
thirty five minutes in the sack
infatuation of the mind in a squeeze
twenty years older are the yellow bees
the spines of legs and my lips go softer
fortitude compact innocence grown stronger

I am older
my eyes smolder
thirty five years of noon
twenty years later, the world is my room

bu Karen, 9th Grade

[photo by rleib via flickr]