Coco

     In my tenth grade English class, we read Fahrenheit 451, and we were asked to answer this question: how did Ray Bradbury's predictions hold up? It was an intentionally broad question that once stumped me.

The sun didn’t kiss these boys

It hugged them

The way you would with your best friend before

Leaving for a long time

It hugged them and

It made their skin the color of a caramel

And their hair like the sand

It was kindergarten

specifically May 4th, 2018, to be exact

we had just moved into our new house

I had been at the after-school program that day

Don’t kill my birds.

Tommy pays taxes.

April runs a side hustle selling cursed bath bombs on Etsy.

They have dreams.

They have a 401k.

They just bought a tiny house in a haunted forest

Reflected back at me,

I see myself through the sea.

My traits written in the stars,

I think back to the planet far from mars.

Where dreams weave themselves into reality.