1. one year older

one year older, 
two inches over the height of his nose,
three times more charm than
four-leafed clovers, you raised
five fingers outstretched to meet
six palms holding 
seven mounts showing that only the best kind of people
eight 
nine or so desserts in a single sitting. 
ten seconds to midnight:
eleventh hour mourning of all the ways you fucked up and still got
twelve glowing eyes warmly convincing you that black cats, Fridays and
thirteenth days can't be that unlucky — you've survived more than a few. And 
fourteen-agers, your friends were pretty cool to look at you so brightly;   
fifteen year-old you would've looked forward to her sweet
sixteen more if she had friends like these, but back then, not even 
seventeen birthdays could convince them to treat you with kindness. But when you turned
eighteen and realized that creatures with wings fly both by rising and falling,
nineteen years seemed more like a gift than a given, and
twenty became your present.