Poem: May 5, 2021

 Crowdsourced Poem - May 5, 2021

I asked my students what it’s like

To be a teenager, as if i’ve forgotten,

As if I could ever forget, and I haven’t

Because I know what they mean

When they say they feel a million

Eyes on them at all times, like they

Are being controlled by someone

They can’t see, so they tiptoe on eggs,

And carry the pressure of a thousand

Bricks that might affect them when

They’re older, so now they can never

Really feel content because they see

That life is a delicious secret that 

Is filled with nails and broken glass,

That they go forward and back, 

Maturing and becoming more childlike,

Full of vibes and up to the task, 

A swing that swings up and back.

They feel stuck like a middle child, 

Trapped like a dog in a cage. 

At this age, it’s a complicated story. 

They know falling in love is like

Riding a rollercoaster, and falling 

From  a plane, and lying in the sun, 

And being punched in the chest, 

An unrest, where you can speak 

Your mind without the fear of being

Judged because it’s love, you know- 

A cough that can’t be hidden, 

A slow ember burning- but then

Falling out of love is like losing

Every single piece of you, is 

Being incomplete, breaking a pencil

And not being able to put it back, 

A heavy burden dulling out, and

Feeling constantly cold and never warm.

It’s a sad disappointment like going

To your dad’s when that’s not where

You want to be, and they can see

That there are hard parts to this world:

The struggle to express yourself to

Someone else, or the fact that there is

Someone else who is even there, or

Watching others as they fall, or that

Nothing, nothing is promised to you,

Or that you have to grow older,

Or trying so hard to fit in, when maybe,

You worry, you weren’t meant to,

Or when the cold walks over a good day.

But failure, too, can be inspiring,

Like dandelions next to the school, 

Bright and beautiful yellow weeds, 

And these strange days, never the same,

And there is always some happiness

To find in acts of kindness, in unity, in

doing the things you’ve dreamt of for a while-

All of the good that cracks through the bad.

When you watch yourself growing.

And you will be glad to know my students

Wish good things for this world, that we

Will understand one another and feel free

To express our minds and find our shared

And happy equality, and make a difference

While we are here, and that we will wake 

To find all of our problems- our hatred

And disease and stress- wished away

In a wild wind, or at least that we will

Stay strong through it all.