neatly

being in school
should make you better at writing poetry
but it makes you worse

words are chores
to fold

neatly.

perfect ten

arriving at the gas station
the display reads 10.00 even
an impressive feat
or a familiar marker
from that time we were sixteen
and rode around in bright colored cars
decades old
cars that bled gas
and gas was cheap
if you weren't sixteen
we threw around the largest bills we could find
walking inside to buy gum
to put 10.00 even
on pump number five

he would drive me
regina spektor through open windows
we didn't have anywhere to go
we wanted to go everywhere
she always asked me for that extra cash
he never did
just put his arm around me
on the sandy ground by the river

i put my oh so adult
and expensively adorned left hand in my pocket
keying in my hometown zipcode
knowing those five digits won't last much longer
watching the numbers fly up
leaving a perfect 10.00
for the next car to pull in