Along the Way | Teen Ink

Along the Way MAG

November 29, 2008
By Andrew Dobies GOLD, Long Grove, Illinois
Andrew Dobies GOLD, Long Grove, Illinois
11 articles 0 photos 2 comments

How many faces and birthdays will I come to remember
before my eyes shut for the last time
and I find myself in that closet I hid in that smelled of laundry softener
in the third grade because I didn’t belong in a girl’s house?
How many fingers and palms and fingernails
will I see amid how many trees, swinging green and happy branches in the spring
like the clasped hands of middle aged lovers who left the kids at home with a babysitter
so they could go for an afternoon walk?
I imagine there will be enough smiles and enough tears
that if I wanted to I could flood the city of New York
and swim through those blurred lights in the dead of an August night
and sing along with the crickets and the distorted sound of drowned car horns.
Hopefully I’ll have a bag of forehead wrinkles and boxes full of voices
from teachers and friends and train conductors
who say the most unimportant things like “May I see your ticket?”
Hopefully there will be shoes and coats from parties
and sloppy kisses on doorsteps in cold January nights
where my breath will be visible in the air and the ice near my feet
will sparkle and gleam in the periodic flicker of the dying bulb
in her porch light.
Even if things go wrong,
at least there will be the smell of honeysuckle and sweat
in my mother’s hair as she held me to her chest as I came fresh from the womb
and there will always be those fluorescent lights.



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This article has 216 comments.


on Dec. 28 2009 at 10:00 am
CieraForrester SILVER, Kenly, North Carolina
6 articles 0 photos 3 comments
Wow. I smell talent. It smells great. :D

on Dec. 6 2009 at 9:58 pm
luna12709 SILVER, Missouri, Texas
7 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
" Dreams can be reached no matter how high they are as long as you never give up on them." (My mom)

That is how i felt when i read it that was super goodl

on Dec. 6 2009 at 7:02 pm
FlamableFyre DIAMOND, Spartanburg, South Carolina
93 articles 9 photos 107 comments

Favorite Quote:
I don't have ambitions or desires.
Being a poet isn't my ambition,
it's my way of being alone.
~ Fernando Pessoa ~

amazing!!!!!! this is totally being added as one of my favorites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on Dec. 6 2009 at 4:37 pm
abooga.looga SILVER, Covina, California
5 articles 0 photos 14 comments
this is amazing.

i love all the little details.

simply beautifully written

on Nov. 14 2009 at 10:55 pm
TheColorRose BRONZE, Springfield, Illinois
3 articles 2 photos 25 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Live deliberately." Live infinitely.
-Thoreau

I really liked how you could name a thousand different experiences and still describe them using the smallest, unnoticed details. Good job!

on Nov. 14 2009 at 12:43 pm
sasssgirrrl22 PLATINUM, Pearl River, New York
27 articles 0 photos 266 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Giving up is not a part of my vocabulary."
"Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."
"Truth be told I miss ya, truth be told I'm lying."

awesome poem. it haz gr8 flow and descriptionz

Tangnefedd said...
on Nov. 14 2009 at 12:04 pm
Tangnefedd, Manson, Iowa
0 articles 0 photos 6 comments
Fascinating collage of the human experience--a pleasure to take in...

on Nov. 6 2009 at 2:55 pm
AbbotRabbit GOLD, Abolana, District Of Columbia
11 articles 0 photos 1028 comments

Favorite Quote:
This poem has great flow and insight.
I really enjoyed it.
Lovely poem darling =]
-Please check out the works that I have posted on here it would be highly appreciated and I think you would greatly enjoy them, Thankk youz-
XxIll tell you Im an orphan after you meet myy familyXx

This poem has great flow and insight.

I really enjoyed it.

Lovely poem darling =]

-Please check out the works that I have posted on here it would be highly appreciated and I think you would greatly enjoy them, Thankk youz-

XxThe Whole Time You Were Talking I Didnt Hear A Single Word You Said B/C Th3 Whole Time You Were Talking I Was Picturing You DeadXx

on Nov. 3 2009 at 7:32 pm
LittleAngel*12 SILVER, New Paris, Indiana
5 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow

wow...very nice...i like it a lot!!!!!

on Oct. 23 2009 at 9:21 pm
Excellent poem! Such vivid wording & beautiful display of ideas and memories.

Cady said...
on Oct. 23 2009 at 5:58 pm
Nice article keep up the great work. I vote a five.

on Oct. 23 2009 at 4:05 pm
Gabrielle SILVER, Galesburg, Illinois
8 articles 2 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"To be nobody but myself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting." -E.E Cummings

Wow, I truly love this poem. There are so many moments in life that I want to wrap up and keep, like the ones you mentioned here. You really captured some intimate moments and made your poem come to life. Great job.

Schubster said...
on Oct. 23 2009 at 3:49 pm
Beautiful poem with a very nice flow and theme. Great job :)

on Oct. 23 2009 at 6:37 am
SeptemberCrew BRONZE, Washington, District Of Columbia
4 articles 0 photos 15 comments
You are a talented poet! Will you read my article? TeenInk.com/opinion/love_relationships/article/129738/To-My-Future-Spouse/

on Sep. 28 2009 at 8:42 am
Torsten Odland SILVER, Warrington, Pennsylvania
8 articles 0 photos 4 comments
That was truly fabulous. The key was in the specificity of the images, and their physicality. I think. Really imagistic. I usually go for things that are more abstract, but this was really effective.

on May. 17 2009 at 10:08 pm
Twilightnme SILVER, Anchorage, Alaska
6 articles 0 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You dont know what you have until its gone"

amazing... and touching. I really enjoyed it. I was astonished and blown away.

on May. 16 2009 at 3:24 am
brooke.is.gone. SILVER, Scottsville, Kentucky
5 articles 0 photos 16 comments
wow. i'm like, speachless? i loved your imagery and descriptions. :)

on May. 6 2009 at 10:42 pm
EleanorRigby PLATINUM, New York City, New York
28 articles 3 photos 53 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The optomist proclaims we live in the best of worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true." - James Branch Cabell

wow at first i thought it was going to be really corny and cliche but it was so much better than i thought it would be, fantastic job!

on May. 6 2009 at 7:13 pm
annkaykay2011 DIAMOND, Lansing, Michigan
75 articles 11 photos 137 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I am who I am, sorry, no changes."

That was beautiful! <3

The imagery

on May. 6 2009 at 11:58 am
LittleBritt PLATINUM, Washington, New Jersey
24 articles 15 photos 23 comments
that was awesome. you have such a talent for details. you can piece together a lot without making it a mess. be proud of that. that is my hardest obsticle in writing. beautiful poem