secondary education (a poem)

**This poem was written as an assignment for a class I'm taking this summer through Hamline University. I was given the italicized words, and then had to formulate a poem around them. This was the result.**

We escape the places we feel confined to, using means of our own choosing.

We put fingers to our veins to check our pulse, just to make sure those means didn’t kill us after all.

We question the concept of a “greater power” and change our spirituality twice a day.

We desire to be something more. And then we’re ignored when we become more.

We write to express how we feel.

We feel so much, our handwriting slants as if it’s getting ready for takeoff.

We keep our own secrets, but share the secrets of others. No one has secrets anymore.

We make progress, and brag about it. And then we fall behind.

We formulate a personal mantra.

We repeat it every morning to keep ourselves grounded before our feet even hit the floor.

We claim that we’re on a “quest.” What we hope to find at the end of that quest, we still have no idea.

We don’t feel anything at all.

We feel bliss.

h