Twelve months ago, I was excited
To start a semester of psychology
I wanted to be a pediatric psychiatrist
I wanted to do something
 
Eleven months ago, I was on a dance team
And I realized my asthma and scoliosis
Would keep me from another year of performances
So I danced my heart out and laughed with friends
I even got a solo. Perhaps next winter, I’d miraculously returnI might come back the next winter
But really, There was nothing I could do
 
Ten months ago, I changed my mind
I wanted to be a children’s counselor in a school
More accessible that way
I wanted to help someone
 
Nine months ago, I realized
A good deal of my childhood
Authors and actors and artists
Book-writers- and movie-actors and music-singers
Had died - all so soon - all so sudden
And it wasn’t going to get much better
There was nothing I could do
 
Eight months ago, I changed my mind
I wanted to be a social worker
Hard work, but think of all the childhoods
I might be able to save
 
Seven months ago, the primaries were in full swing
It was a whirlwind of entertainment -
And utter horror
Someone was going to have to lead our country
But they reverted to petty insults
That’s how it is here, There was nothing I could do
 
Six months ago, I wanted to be an actor
I couldn’t do much good under a government
Like that, so I might as well do something fun
Besides, it was looking like we would need some new ones
 
Five months ago, I wanted to help elementary teachers
But my high school was rearranging class times
And now I didn’t meet the requirement
So I took as many off-blocks as possible
And volunteered to help my mom homeschool signed on to be a homeschool student mentor
There wasn’t anything else to do
 
Four months ago, I wanted to be a teacher
Of theatrics, of dance, of music
It was something I was good at, mostly
And  I heard that those that can’t do, teach
 
Three months ago, I wanted to sleep
I thought senior year was supposed to be easier
But I wrote essays on Othello, and Congress, and Caesar
And why I should be admitted to your school
Between that and more, no time for a job
Or sleep, but There was nothing I could do
 
Two months ago, my Government Teacher
Tried to console us, said the People had spoken
I wanted to tell her that they hadn’t, actually
That he lost the popular vote, actually
That many in the room weren’t old enough to vote - to speak
Just old enough to deal with the consequences
And that the system wasn’t written with us in mind
I wanted to talk about Caesar, and Kings Henry and James
Hamilton and Jefferson, Lincoln and the Roosevelts
and Watergate, and 2000, and 2001, and 2008
About the point where people just started picking the lesser evil
About what we need to change, what we need to teach
But all she wanted to do was shrug, and quiz us on super PACs
As if There was nothing she could do

One month ago, I decided to be a teacher
Of History, but anything else would work, too
My Physics teacher taught us about Civil War tactics
In Theatre, I learned Politics; in English, Sports History
I just need to reach people at this age, in this stage
I need to tell them: There’s always something you can do.