List Poem

"Like You"

I like you; I, like you.
I hate like you. I wait like you. I won’t like you. I won’t, like you.
I laugh like you. I can’t drink like you. I sing loudly like you.
I tell secrets like you; secrets –like you.
I braid his hair like you. I refuse to act like you; refuse like you.
I dance for joy like you. I am a jack ass like you. I have a name like you.
I don’t want to, like you. I don’t want to like you.
I will one day fly away like you. I feel depressed like you.
I have four sisters like you. I need more sleep like you.
I read libraries of books like you. I cry on the phone like you.
I am afraid of heights, like you; afraid of heights like you.
I wish I remembered like you. I cannot bear my parents like you.
I aspire to become a teacher like you; aspire –like you.
I yell too loud into the microphone like you.
I avoid running so that my bones sing like you; avoid –like you.
I treasure my fortress made of secrets, like you; of secrets like you.
I doodle insects and eyes in college rule margins like you; eyes like you.
I cannot see past my irritation about people like you; cannot like you.
I wish my legs could run faster, farther, longer like you.
I do not let people reach out and touch me like you; touch me like you.
I would relish taking a year away from school like you.
I broke my collarbone landing wrong after a leap –like you;
landing wrong after a leap like you.
I wrote words that I loved in my spiral bound notebook like you;
like you.

03.31.09