Teenagers

We lie in bed  with our arms around ourselves, 

cradling the mangled bodies of children

 who had the stars squeezed out of their eyes so that, still shining, they fell 

down our faces and got stuck there in the shapes 

of tears and little hairs and pimples.

 

For a while, 

if we shut our eyes tight, our bodies aren't so stretched 

and overgrown,

and there's a little more time to play before sunset.

wph

VT

17 years old

More by wph

  • Poetry

    By wph

    The Sweet Escape

    When I was a little younger than I am now, 

    I went home after school and wrote until bedtime.

    That was enough to take me into the stratosphere. 

    I'd play in the cloud for hours and hours.

  • Simon Peter

    I will tell you what I remember from high school, and I will tell you how you can follow in my sinful and lowly footsteps, that your blood might be as holy as mine.