Poetry
Post-seventeen Psalms
Exiting adolescence
revealed between my palms,
under the northern lights,
I meditated the psalms,
of post-seventeen mentality,
twilight of late adolescence;
cadence of waning first quarter,
I flipped heads, still,
death raced against ego,
when it came in first,
something was lost,
waving a checkered flag,
stranded off the side of the road,
I learned from the sore sight,
to see more of the golden rays,
through gray clouds under blue skies;
I welcome all that hits my sails,
navigate reinvigorated spirituality,
free at last from the fast-spinning
wheels, found therapy in poetry,
and poetry in therapy,
I behold my younger days,
but I still sleep eagerly,
for the next through every night,
by the serene of sixty-something sonnets,
I dream of the greatest mornings,
but I don’t need to burn my rubber all at once,
I can enjoy the ride, each year,
soaking in a little more sun.
This is the thirteenth poem, “post-seventeen psalms,” from my tenth poetry collection, pre-twenty anxieties.
— Chicano poet from Southern California
