Do not read this

You should know that you're not safe here.

Go on.
Scram.
A poem is no place for a nice kid like you

Yeah?

You identify as "young adult"? okay, 
well, I'm gay and identify as human being but 
Death doesn't care which body she takes in the end
which is to say that white people die too
and the Spaniard curve in my neck 
isn't a Horcrux
and I won't live forever
and neither will the F.O.B.s that actually made it to New York City and
lost their accents too
probably still bobbing and sinking like 
the rest of their baggage tossed to sea to
make their tongues lighter
Maybe they lost their keys too
the ones that they used to break into their houses
after a long day of disappearing

It's true,

I'm too pessimistic to be young
Maybe I really am a ghost after all
and I know you said "young" before "pessimistic"
but I'm a poet, you know
and the only thing I know to do with words is twist and besides,
you're never too young to die but you can be too old to
which is why I still can't love her in public and
why she'd probably assume my yellow ass'd be too cheap to
take her to the movies anyway
and that's probably true
but also, $13.25 is a lot of fucking money to see
Scarlett Johansson act out my erasure in 3D when
I can just live that shit every day for free
and you're right, it's not always about race
and poetry is supposed to be pretty
and life is fair unless you overthink it
but I told you, when you get to my age, 
you start thinking like a ghost so
you start making lists; for example:

A List of Lists
1. A list of things you need to do before going to sleep
2. A list of things you need to do before waking up
3. A list of excuses for every time someone offers you a beer
4. A list of people who are too nice for you but you kissed anyway
5. A list of poems you still need to write
6. A list of comebacks you thought of 12 hours too late
7. A list of crime scenes you want to haunt before Death comes back for you

what?

You look like you expected something else.
But you came for a poem and sometimes a poem is a list
just like how a cake is sometimes a recipe
and a girl is sometimes a ghost
or a poet
or not a Horcrux
or lost keys
or too pessimistic to be young
or too young to be pessimistic
and not at all concerned about the difference
sometimes she's broke
or Scarlett Johansson
sometimes everything is about race
and poetry is supposed to look like this
and life is unfair unless you overthink it

Sometimes Death forgets to come back for you
and you've forgotten what that means so 
you write a list 
but backwards