Kool aid kids

we used to have
an enormous clear pitcher
of red
kool aid on the picnic
table.
we all drank it
from paper cups poured
to the brim.
we were children with
red lips,
red drips on our
white t shirts.
the girls too.
we believed
in everything we were told.
we crossed our hearts
and hoped to die before
we awoke.
we drank it daily,
taking in the sugar
sweetness,
the icy cold.
then one day, we stopped
drinking, we moved on
from believeing
everything, from doing
what we were told.