Everyone Surrounds

Everyone Surrounds 1998 They gathered around the cake like hogs at a watering hole. It sat in front of The You that had been dyeing grey. But today you painted over yourself in yellows that burst from the chest. The candles glow against your shadow, and you used to count the candles like a chalked tally for every year that brought you closer and closer to the something you’ve been waiting for. But everything has been slowing down. 2000 You used to blow out the candles and imagine a part of you got lost in the smoke that curled and hung above their heads. But now you inhale— to take your last breath of your former self and blow it all away. “Happy Birthday!” “Things will get better!” they say. 2004 You remembered the sound of your voice that hammered against the walls of a tin can when you were young. Now it’s sealed and stored on a shelf in a grocery store. Next year, it’ll be priced at $3.99 So you get your can opener, pierce the can, press it to your lips and swallow the preserved chunks of You that you’ve been trying to get back. And they shout, “Chug! Chug! Chug!” While you wish for a blackout that will bring you back to last year. 2010 You’re twenty eight now, and next you’ll be thirty. Everyone surrounds, arms around your shoulders with smiles and teeth and breath in your ears. You got lost again in memories of tourniquet rainbow swirls of wax 2012 When did it become seventeen candles too many Now we just use those big numerical ones Lazy. A jumbo three paired with a jumbo zero Two candles pretending to be thirty 2015 You began to slide down the bell curve of life at seventeen but you lied to yourself at twenty one, believing you were on the come up. But remember to smile, because they’re all watching you now, be happy, they’re here for you, be happy, you were born some odd years ago, and now it’s time to count the candles. Blow them out and escape through the smoke that rises through the dark tea room 2019 They’re burning higher now, It’s getting louder now. Everyone surrounds, everyone.