Coming of Age

The brim of adulthood, a straining time with

Two sides of a square tugging at your soul.

On one hand you have tradition, your parents

And mentors establishing the old world

With Anne of Green Gables and walks in the park.

Remember how they once taught you to pray?

Remember family reading nights and Chutes and Ladders?

The Book of Common Prayer and the cabin in June

All establishing daddy's little girl.

Then pop culture covers tradition’s traces;

Red cups and blasting noises.

Homework with laptops and hot chips at 5,

Fur coats and cold basements at 11:55.

Remember your first iPod Shuffle, 2006,

Hot-pink with limitless bragging rights?

Remember filling in eyebrows, France, 2015?

The pull from two sides, on a girl

Who wishes the world was a circle.

Stains on her shirt from who knows what

And oversized jackets from The Salvation Army.

Almost run over tossing footballs

And dislocating knees in the streets; living

Because she wants to.