Growing Up Backwards

 

His Spiderman action figures

point to the “bad” box 

with the silk white handcuffs.

Toys. You don’t lose

them. You trade in for engines and

latex. Nothing’s wrong with

Traffic Cop at night.

Someone taught me to hate

what’s inside me,

so I uneducated myself.

Dumb. It’s the guilt when you

unzip your jeans.

Almost thirty and nobody’s taught me

if an adult is a person or a store.

Never quit playing claw

machines for Beanie Boos.

Always keep pressing the keys

of dusty pianos.

I wonder who lied and said dreams

need to be famous.

Work. On yourself

when the alphabet starts with

Anxiety and ends with Zinfandel.

Don’t worry about calories.

Breathe. You can choose who to

tag. Virginity.

It’s impossible to lose

when there are so many firsts.          

 

Signed

Leona Wilde