#growingupsucks

The shed we hid in got taken down

Our life looks different farther from the ground

The girl next door stopped saying hello

She figured out we sucked a long time ago.

We don’t even dance with mama nowadays

Those little moments become such a haze

We’re too big to be carried inside

We stopped knowing how to be held when we cried.

Our dog is in a wooden box sitting by the mantle

Mom made her a spot right next to the candle

We threw rocks at the stars to get her back down

Don’t tell your little brother but she’s not coming back down.

I really am sorry that daddy was so mean

I dont think we’ll get over it and he never got clean

Little brother is becoming too big to hold

I don’t know why but he became cold.

One day you’ll see mom breakdown and cry

All because of our words that we try and justify

You’ll start to understand why people make choices

But the reasons aren’t good ones and they just make us joyless.

And I don’t know why but none of this stops

It will keep coming like heavy raindrops

The growing pains get bigger until our head explodes

What do you do when your whole world corrodes?

One day you’ll start crying and you won’t stop

We will always be waiting for the next shoe to drop

I’m so sorry that I couldn’t get you the moon

I know you thought it could fix things but there’s nothing we can do.

Our dogs are in wooden boxes sitting on the mantle

Daddy made them a spot right next to me and the candles

Our brother screamed at the sky to get us on solid ground

Who will tell our mother that we can’t get back down.

To: Younger me

From: Grey Augustus

I was driving to work on a sunny morning when I saw some primary school aged children walking to school. They were filled with happiness and wonder, stopping to look and smell flowers, picking up rocks (to give to those important people in their lives, of course!) and skipping/dancing along. Further along I could see some high school aged teens walking along. Their heads were down, looking at the…

I knew we had grown up when we stopped going out for Hallowe’en. When we stopped playing Five at pubs. When we stopped drawing moustaches on each other after a few shots of Gold Schlager. Back then what money we had; we didn’t care where it went! We bought Mickey Finns and sour cream pretzels then whatever was left we’d scrounge together to buy a pizza. We’d have house parties, then walk home.…