We come from cheesy vampire novels with dramatic covers
Scattered on puke-green comforters
Thick with the smell of cigarette smoke
We are the half burnt pages that people forgot about
That serve as the kindling for life’s fire

We come from laughing clusters of teenage girls
Which are commendable in their naivety
And hollow in all else.
We are a unit of clacking computer keys
And notebooks that revolve
Around the dream that we will be more than they expected of us.

We come from a place that is united, yet separate
We are a solid metal cage
That opens for us as we stretch our dampened wings
And warm our sallow faces.
And we may come and go as we please
But the bars are locked to the rest of the world
Because they do not know the dedication we come from.