Cosmopolitan

lightening bug at my window, it’s been years
since I raced on stubby legs
giggling
in my attempts to catch you
in a glass jar.
Now I look for different lights:
city lights.
Glowing florescent neons so bright
I’ll miss out on the stars.
But that’s alright
I’ll have my own lights from
the stage.
and I won’t have the songs from
the crickets or the peepers,
I’ll be making music of my own.

I’ve kept these secrets sewn
across my jaw line,
like sparklers inside of a folded cardboard box.
but cardboard burns
and sparklers fade out.
A word advancing rapidly,
I struggle to keep up with it.
adult legs running on checks and performances.

It’s hard to impress
along the folded lines of applications
and judges critiques.
But I’ll find my way back to
the streetlights that sparsely dot
a dirt road.

“Cosmopolitan looks and music
to match it,” she said
Individuality is necessity
for success to ever be tangible.
But there is still ample time before I have to shake hands
with competition and, perhaps,
bite my tongue in face of failure.
So tonight I’ll trace desire
in star dust and lightening bugs.