(a) Use friends as rulers

run your pen along their spines

hold the world against them

to see if it lines up

(b) Treat life like mystery murders

pinned to a corkboard

connected with red string

pull it forward with hooked finger

and trace back to find the culprit

(c) Measure past distance

with a squinted eye and raised thumb

recall how you wanted to be

an astronaut horse-rider

writer fire-fighter

What you want to be when you grow up

(a) refers to career not being

(b) distinguishes between career and being

(c) asks you to plan a career trajectory

Trajectories are for sling-shots

and textbook parabolas

they do not plan where to go

but go still

Grow up means

a point at which growth ends

before you get to end

see how you can grow down or sideways

Stand against your own marked wall

with dates scribbled next to pencil lines

on tippy toes, ask yourself

am I taller? 

have I grown?