When I was 5

When I was 5 I learned how to read and

that the world was round and that

the people here

they were walking

talking in circles

that the moon liked

the earth but the earth

it loved the sun and

When I was 9 I learned how to write

in cursive

and that we’re all made

of carbon

that we breathe what the plants

are nice enough to give

us and that we’re probably all descendants

of dinosaur-fish

When I was 12 I learned how to question

and

that nobody had a good explanation

for war

for any war

no matter how often you asked

but that more people are born

each day than die

even in the worst times

When I was 14 I learned how to think

I learned

that religion will always win because

people want love

not thoughts

and I wanted

both

When I was 16 I learned how to know

what to do

how to drive

and how to work

late

and how to burn CDs

on to the mp3 player I had saved up

for

so that I could put

my headphones in when I wanted

to mute

the chatter of an unlearned

population

and listen to

songs I knew to be true

truer than anything

else in 16 years

to songs I knew

every word to

and probably still do

When I was 18 I learned how to leave

things I loved but couldn’t

keep

and how to sleep in beds that weren’t

mine

When I was 19 I learned how to drink

bitter

liquids that numbed the unnamable and tamed

the unknowable

in me

When I was 21 I learned how to find

myself

beneath the rafters

of this old three-story

sliver of what

a home should be

with walls painted

yellow and a ceiling

fan too low

and how to let the streets

walk on me instead

treading on sidewalks but letting them

pave and point

because it doesn’t matter

where I go

only that I learn

something

on the way.