Writing Isn't A Career

“You only get one chance to do it right,”

They say.

One job

One future

One life

One chance

“Don’t screw it up,”

They say.

I put in the work

The back breaking,

Dirty work

I clock in the hours

Of memorization

And concentration

Until my mind is overflowing with words

That I will use only once.

I’m striving for perfection

The kind of student

Every college looks for

Because they say

“Writing isn’t a career.”

Because they chide

“You don’t stand a chance.”

So I will be a doctor

And save lives

Or a teacher

And shape them

Or a scientist

And change them

I get one chance

And even if I dream of a life

Where I spin tales

Of princesses

And dragons

And lives so contradictory to my own

I still only get one chance

Because

“Writing isn’t a career.”