Due Tomorrow?
From the very start, we were doomed.
Star crossed lovers on a messy sheet of bad math and eraser streaks
We weren’t meant to last.
We ignored all the signs and we blacked out our expiration date
with a Sharpie and tried to keep going
Driving along the coastline,
Giving ourselves completely to the sea and surf
We kept thinking
“There is so much ocean. This could never possibly end.”
It was like
The relief of hitting the snooze button on the alarm
or like
Knowing there’s a paper due tomorrow but there’s so much more important things to do today
Like the careless teenagers we are
We roamed the streets on a Halloween when we knew classes
Would resume in a mere 3 hours
I think
We thought we could beat the timer.
As if the sands of time didn’t apply to us because
Look at all that beach left to discover.
I’m left holding ice on a hot day:
It feels great in my hand but it’s melting so quickly.
I can’t save every drop.
Rushing into the amusement park an hour before the gates shut
Because, c’mon, let’s face it
We can get to every ride before it closes!
There’s so much shoreline left.
We were the bad choices you make
Even though you were acutely aware
Of the consequences to come.
Look into my eyes,
We’ll face those outcomes together.
But like how Sunday has an impending presence looming over
This time bomb of a relationship was reaching its end
Monday was coming soon
And we’d ignite.
Our alarm told us that we were an hour late for work and we got promptly fired
The teacher wouldn’t accept our rough draft and we should expect an email to our parents
We fell asleep in class and got sick from all the candy and the roller coasters in such a small time.
My hand is holding a small puddle and I let it slip
just
like
that.
Finally the road ended for us
And the beaches stopped at a jagged cliff
You, my love,
my August in a finite Summer
Let’s sleep a little earlier tonight.
We have class tomorrow.
Alexander Dang is an aspiring poet from Portland, Oregon. He has four things in common with Hamlet: Words, words, words, and an affinity for stabbing curtains. In August 2013, he and three others represented Oregon at the National Poetry Slam. He currently attends the University of Oregon.
Copyright © 2012 by Alexander Dang
