𝐼𝑁𝐹𝐼𝑁𝐼𝑇𝐸

liminal spaces

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this was always meant to be liminal.

if you occupy a space for long enough, your life begins to rub off on it. the air you breathe becomes the air it breathes, its skin takes on the heat of your body, its eyes fold into your perception of it as your witness becomes its reality.

as you leave your fingertips upon the shiny locker doors and school mandated history textbooks, you shed scraps of your fraying identity and leave them strewn about the linoleum halls like paper confetti. let us celebrate the breakage of your freshly matured soul from your child bones and your ascendence into the light.

they shall crown you queen up on that glittering stage, and you shall feel so very old inside your sequined bodice and tulle gown. or perhaps you will feel very young, still flushed from the fever of the night, your eyes burning like the stars up in their heavens whilst the cosmos sits upon your lips, waiting for its first kiss, waiting for you to make it yours.

you shall fall in love with mortality, and that is why we crown you. childhood is stubborn and remains stuck in the creases of your palms, in the hollows of your knuckles. today, you will peel it all off, wrap it up in a neat bundle, tie it in a pretty bow, and pass it on to younger hands. you shall lean into their ear and whisper, "this is your chance, your time. grasp the cosmos by the throat and make it yours."

you will walk across a stage, finally grown into the weight of your age, and yet still, undoubtedly, too small for the world you inhabit. liminal spaces are thresholds and it was certainly never meant to hold you for long. this was only meant to service you, a decrepit nursery for your immaturity, desperate to be deserted. time forever moves towards it and around us, and we are only mortal. yet you stand against it, in efforts futile as squirming beneath the strangling riptide, and raise your hands to the sun, as if you could carry it, as if the sky belongs to you.

maybe that is what makes this so monumental, what makes you so monumental, defiant time fighters, time adventurers, keepers of the cosmos. you ache with mortality and blossom with youth. this is the burgeoning spring of your life and you will rush to meet it, daring to hope for remembrance. remember me world, as i kiss my inner child goodbye and step into your infinity.

once you leave, i shall find you everywhere. plastered upon the beige walls, pressed into the stairwell railings, shrouded in dim corners, ducking through the crowded cafeteria lines, laughing against the pulsating scream of trumpets and stomping feet. this liminal space will keep you and then become me, and i shall shed scraps and seams, sprawl myself across this place and wear myself into its figure. i'll carve myself into bathroom stalls and auditoriums, mold my own reflection in the bright eyes that behold me. time squeezes me so tight, i could suffocate, but future dawns on the horizon, a brutally beautiful sunrise. this is my chance, this is my time, i will grasp the cosmos by its throat and make it mine.

i am too small for this big world i inhabit, but you've rubbed off on me. i'll wear my mortality as a prom queen crown and walk on into that great infinity.

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hello dears! how was this poem? please leave comments telling me your thoughts and feelings and thank you for reading! eat and stay hydrated! love you!

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