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 Jan. 6 2011 at 10:20 pm
ZCmusiclover SILVER, Ashland, Pennsylvania
6 articles 0 photos 4 comments

Favorite Quote:
Let us endeavour so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry- Mark Twain

created really amazing sensory effects on me as i read it

SurRara SILVER said...
on Jan. 6 2011 at 8:01 pm
SurRara SILVER, Williston, North Dakota
7 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
I fly to great heights to achieve everything. I fly to greater heights to achieve what I have to fight for.

I love the way you word your expressions. Its absoulutly bueatiful that this poem can make such a serine scenary in my mind. You are amazing.

on Jan. 6 2011 at 7:54 pm
RedheadAtHeart ELITE, Mountain Home, Idaho
109 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love with open hands. - Madeleine L'Engle

Beautiful.

on Jan. 6 2011 at 6:07 pm
mikaylaB BRONZE, Saint Louis, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
live your life, dont let others live it for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i luv♥ iit.......................

on Jan. 6 2011 at 10:24 am
HipsterUnicorn. BRONZE, Pendleton, Oregon
3 articles 0 photos 48 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love is the Movement."

Seriously?

on Jan. 6 2011 at 10:24 am
HipsterUnicorn. BRONZE, Pendleton, Oregon
3 articles 0 photos 48 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love is the Movement."

Seriously.

on Jan. 6 2011 at 10:22 am
HipsterUnicorn. BRONZE, Pendleton, Oregon
3 articles 0 photos 48 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Love is the Movement."

I must admit that I really enjoyed this one:)

paperflowers said...
on Dec. 15 2010 at 2:11 pm
paperflowers, Imaginary, Indiana
0 articles 0 photos 176 comments
Excellent. Beautifully written :)

on Dec. 15 2010 at 2:04 pm
Gilbert, BRONZE, Houston, Texas
3 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Impossible is Impossible"

good Poetry, I must say.

on Dec. 15 2010 at 7:37 am
Alisha62293 BRONZE, Warwick, Rhode Island
2 articles 1 photo 30 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life." Charles Darwin

This was very insightful, i loved it =)

on Nov. 23 2010 at 7:29 pm
BraydenHirsch BRONZE, Abbotsford, Other
1 article 0 photos 8 comments
Love this!  I don't get the chance to read much poetry, but when I do...if it's like this, I'm happy!

HuntressEmma said...
on Nov. 23 2010 at 7:12 pm
WOW. Uh, woah.

123poetry said...
on Nov. 23 2010 at 4:40 pm
this was such a beautiful poem. i love the analogies you used and the way you described everything in such little words, keep up the greatt work!

Melody777 GOLD said...
on Nov. 23 2010 at 4:23 pm
Melody777 GOLD, Tonasket, Washington
17 articles 0 photos 14 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you."

amazing, i love the imagery!

XxLORxX said...
on Nov. 23 2010 at 11:57 am
XxLORxX, Fort Edward, New York
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
To love someone, you must first love yourself, otherwise you can never truly give your love to someone.

This poem definitely intruiged me. You have a great talent here. Your descriptions were very good. Love this!

Lucie BRONZE said...
on Nov. 23 2010 at 11:31 am
Lucie BRONZE, Chelsea, Massachusetts
3 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies

Wow! Its like... wow

on Nov. 1 2010 at 10:36 pm
LaurenE. PLATINUM, Nashville, Tennessee
26 articles 19 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
Two woods diverge in a yellow wood, and I- I took the one less traveled. And it has made all the difference. -Robert Frost

Wow, I really really like this. You convince the reader throughout the poem to keep on reading, or at least that was the feel that I got. 

This reminded me of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. Read it? You should. Great great read, interesting style, just like your work. =)


on Nov. 1 2010 at 7:45 pm
Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A Person's a Person no Matter how Small"
and
"A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"
and
"God helps those who help themselves"

I love this! So many words...so beautifully put....For this sort of poem I might say it was cramped by the extensive vocabulary, but I can tell that was the point of the poem. The words really make it come alive. Wow...just stunning.

Please check out my work!


on Nov. 1 2010 at 7:41 pm
Um....that's frightening....I understand why that is amusing as a joke but please don't post things like that on the internet; I tried to report it as abuse but there were so many steps. I know this is a joke - but some people get really scared by these things. Please be more considerate.

Duckie430 said...
on Nov. 1 2010 at 12:46 pm
Duckie430, Riverside, Rhode Island
0 articles 0 photos 228 comments

Favorite Quote:
“The secret to life is being who you are and being happy with who you are.”
"Whatever does not kill you only makes you stronger."

this is a really great poem, keep writing!!