Spin Cycle

- Eliza Schoknecht (Georgia, USA)

i am better.

its weird when you can take your life and measure it out in inches and centimeters.

but i am watching as miles of my life go by now.

i don't think i’ve gotten any older.

everyone else has just gotten younger.

but i know the days aren't going by as fast now.

i know everyday i am becoming the person i will be. because it makes no sense to count who you are today as who you will be forever.

one day i will leave this town.

i will leave a place filled with joy

and tears and ice cream as the sun sets.

i will ride the train that splits my home in two

and sings me lullabies as i sleep.

i will ride that train to the next stop.

and i will look back on who i was and cry.

because there is nothing more worth those tears than knowing you can look back.

i can't wait to see myself and remember who i was,

and see who i am yet to be.

days of laughter in classrooms and lunchrooms and

arguments about eating in the courtyard are simple now.

one day they will be framed as happy memories, hung on my wall.

i can't tell if i want that day to come.

i don't think i have to decide yet. now all i have to do is live.