Thermal

Elená C Martinez, Grade 11

17

Alexis B Mosteller, Grade 11

Keep counting down the days, but why?

It’s just another number

Another year to add to the incessant amount of days I stagger around

Yet, I still find myself counting the days

“Take pride!” they say

“Be joyous! Such a wonderful age!”

But why?

In this marathon it just means I have one more year before my life is my own

One more year before every decision I make will be faltered as its own consequence.

One more year and this high school reverie comes to an end.

One more year and I am unprepared for the life that I was never taught about.

As a kid in the system, you grow in the wrong ways at the wrong time. All the looming court dates and monthly visits. Disrupting your everyday childhood of school and friends.

“Don’t get too comfy!” My thoughts always scream.

“You won’t be there for long!” They always seem to tear down the joy.

Another year and I’ll go from dependent to independent.

Another year they’ll change from go to school to get a job.

Another year and the system will dispense me and my case number will just be simply what it is I will simply be what its digits are to them: A case number

So here’s to 17!

What every foster kid dreams or fears

The year you plan on your own

Poet Note: This was inspired by my feelings towards the upcoming of my seventeenth birthday. Being a foster kid, there are a lot of emotions that come up for birthdays, especially ones that are important in terms of the things going on in your life. I hope it will be understood that turning seventeen as a foster youth isn't always the most exciting feeling and that the words relay the struggle of entering the world after being a dependent of the court.