My Poems

Dear World

So I didn't realize I hadn't posted this one, so here you go, almost a year after I originally wrote it. (11-27-17)

Dear world,
I am still young. Please don't judge me so harshly.
Dear world
I don't know who I am yet, but I know enough to make my own choices. Yes, I am young, but I am not a child. I know right from wrong, just like you.
Dear world,
Why am I expected to act eighteen when I am barely fifteen years old? Why do you accuse us teenagers of laziness and ignoring world news when we have more civilized conversations about rape, murder, debt, war, sexism, and homophobia than you adults ever will? Why do you demonize love, why do you dehumanize us? Why are you so insistent on demolishing anything and everything that is different from you, even if it is human? Why does it matter if they prefer they/them pronouns? Why does it matter if she was born a boy, if he used to be she?
Dear world,
Where did we fuck up? You say "stick to the old traditions!" But the old traditions are about seven wives, hundreds of slaves, stoning women and outlawing divorce. The old tradition is about an eye for an eye.
Dear world,
If you want old traditions, you can bet your ass we'll give it to you. Eye for an eye. You have beat us, killed us, caged us, and enslaved us. We can only take so much before we snap.
Dear world,
I know what you will say.
"But same-sex marriage is legal in lots of places!"
What about where it isn't? Right now, there are hundreds of people being told to "be yourself!", but if they do that, they'll get killed. We will not rest until they're safe.
Dear world,
It's time to let go. It's time for you to realize that we are humans, just life you. It's time to realize that the LGBTQ+ Community will not stop fighting until I, a nonbinary afab teenager, can kiss another girl without being told that I "just haven't found the right boy yet."
We won't stop until he, a grown man, can hold his husband's hand without hearing people say "not in front of the kids!" Not until John can feel safe telling people to call her Alica, not until kids are no longer being kicked out of their homes for being bisexual, not until we are safe.
Dear world,
We may be young, but we have aged more than you ever will.
Dear world,
It's time to grow up.