Growing up Poems
The home I grew up in
by Carter Botham
You missed it when you walked in,
The tiles in the bathroom that looked like an ogre,
That had captured my imagination as a child.
You missed that the bottom stair was harder,
The leak in the upstairs bathroom that was neglected and left to the care of a bowl,
Emptied weekly as if this chore was less than fixing it.
You missed the dent in the paint from the arguments,
Doors slammed haphazardly into walls,
The stain on the carpet from way back when,
......
Like a Ray of Sunshine
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
Little Susie was everyone's favorite. She usually caused people to smile;
Like bouquets received from yesterday, traveling on mauve, Memory Aisle.
Susie Partridge was loved by all, since she was indeed sugar and spice;
Like honeycomb riches of sweet summer, which all bees deem very nice.
Susie played with fun dolls, pretending they were actual, factual people;
As dusk fools the eye with fun colors, when saffron light has grown feeble.
Frances and Fanny were favorite friends, like favored, shadowless noon;
......
Don't look under the bed
by Dorothy Eleanor
Every child reaches the age
When their thoughts need no consent.
When hearts twist and writhe,
Simple encounters evoke torment.
Days pass as moments,
Slipping through the tightest of grips;
Youth kisses sweet time goodbye
With soft, selfish lips.
......
56. Adversity Anniversaries
by Kea Campbell
Loving had never made me feel so lonely, and living never made me feel so lifeless.
Patience was scarce and I was desperate for rest, and the only peace I found was in romanticizing my death.
Hate was addictive, but only towards myself, because I bought into the beauty standards that society sells.
At 10 I didn't know that it was rape and not love, because I believed what he told me until he hurt me for fun.
12 and I hoped that my heart surgery would fail, because at least it'd get me out of writing fair wells.
14 and I wondered “What if infanticide would have won?” or “What if my parents had never given me up?”
16 and my wrists were an escape from the numb, and the only things I believed in were my sports and bulimia.
18 and my stories grew older and untold, because no one had time to be friends with broken souls.
19 and 1 month and I feel most alive; now I know how to live, and not just survive.
......
If only I could travel as far as my eyes can see
by Marra Makinen
An eighteen hour trip with two layovers
But when the mechanical wings finally breach the clouds
It's worth it
This land, however distant, is lush and green
Hills mark the skyline and square patches show the division of farms like a patchwork quilt
White dots speckle the ground and I never realized so many sheep existed
It's different here
I can drink despite only being eighteen
Buses and trains take me places I only knew cars to take me before
......
Erfzonde
by Teo Luchin
Ik ademde in wat zij nooit zeiden
en noemde het zuurstof.
Schoon. Leeg.
Vrij van wortels
en van groei.
Ik groef me los uit hun dromen
tot mijn handen niets meer vasthielden.
Ik leek op niemand,
En niemand keek terug.
......
Clean
by Teo Luchin
Wash my hair,
Lavender shampoo, the squeak of cleanliness.
When you’re almost done,
Split my skull wide open.
Let it all spill out,
Cerebral storms unraveling in cold, biting splashes.
Take away all that I couldn’t purge.
Let the water flood the hollows of my head.
I’ll shake myself like a stray.
Flinging drops into my eyes.
......
Shaping an adult
by Azaad M
If I could make my own adults,
I’d shape them gently—
after the foggy warmth of grandmothers' laps
and the way a mother tucks in the corners of a blanket like a promise.
I’d build them with leftover laughter from childhood
pressed into the hollows of their cheeks,
the kind that resurfaces when they laugh with their eyes closed.
I’d stir in a spoonful of Camus—
so they'd look at the sky and feel both lost and held.
......
Brookville Summers
by Kevin Schroeder
The creek was cool beneath the sun,
Its waters sparkled, our laugh begun.
We dove and splashed in endless play,
Wolf Creek kept the heat at bay.
Golden Gate’s diamond called our names,
Where dust flew wild in epic timeless games.
The crack of the bat, the cheers, the grin,
Moments carved deep, where dreams begin.
......
56. Adversity Anniversaries
by Kea Campbell
Loving had never made me feel so lonely, and living never made me feel so lifeless.
Patience was scarce and I was desperate for rest, and the only peace I found was in romanticizing my death.
Hate was addictive, but only towards myself, because I bought into the beauty standards that society sells.
At 10 I didn't know that it was rape and not love, because I believed what he told me until he hurt me for fun.
12 and I hoped that my heart surgery would fail, because at least it'd get me out of writing fair wells.
14 and I wondered “What if infanticide would have won?” or “What if my parents had never given me up?”
16 and my wrists were an escape from the numb, and the only things I believed in were my sports and bulimia.
18 and my stories grew older and untold, because no one had time to be friends with broken souls.
19 and 1 month and I feel most alive; now I know how to live, and not just survive.
......
