My Turn

A Poem by Erin Kateri

reflections from senior year of high school

Somewhere within myself, I always knew
it was just talk.
That little voice told me
they were so naive
every time,
but I never realized that they,
somewhere within themselves, knew it too,

that it's always been a game
with a definite stopping point,
although someone always seems to get
booted out early,

that all along, we've been betting
with Monopoly money,
and once we take the pieces off the board,
our winnings can't buy us anything,
and we've passed Go
for the last time,

that we're only colored
with the Crayons we choose,
and it's getting time
to put the Crayons away,

that the songs about friends never saying goodbye
belong in the music boxes
that no longer pacify us as we try to sleep,
to dream one last dream.