#growingup poems on Hello Poetry

Blake Nov 2020

18
What a strange age

Expected to grow up
Expected to change

But there is a problem
With what they request,
I’m not quite done growing
And I’m still quite a mess

They tell me I’m ready
That I have to move on

Won’t somebody tell me
Where my childhood’s gone?

What are these taxes?
Why must I move out?
If I haven’t the money,
Shall I sleep on the ground?

Nobody told me
How to accept
The loss of my childhood
As a normal event

It may not have been nice
And it may not have been good
And I might have been through stuff
That no child should

But I am not ready
To give it all up
To trade for my hours,
Everyday at a job

I don’t know how to fight it
I’m not sure I can

But at least I am finding
The person I am

At 18 I’m growing
And I’ll keep in my hand
That of another me,
The one of my Past

I am just a person who originated from a clump of cells that developed from an egg. Why am I forced to follow the rules of the people around me, what if I just wanted to be a ******* bird?

#18 #growingup #age #fear #childhood #trauma #notfair #not #ready

Astrea Nov 2020

Princess Dress

pink silk, floral embroidery
black ribbon, white trimmings
paired with soft slippers
& a twinkling tiara
Bibbidi-bobbidi- Boo!

mirror flashed, smiling sweetly is a princess;
skirt floating & feathery feet pivoting
dancing in the woods with merry deer
& singing birds
follow the faeries, drown in their music
the shinning flutes & playful pipe
luring one to a gentle doze

low bells chiming
woke up to an enchanted ruin,
go home, go home
crawling thorns & ****** roses
greedy crows & harden earth
body bursting & long limbs stretching
mirror grinned, a princess no more
but a grown woman

I'm selling my princess dress today, reckon I wouldn't wear it anymore. It used to meant the world to me, I literally fought my mother to get one, but growing old is both a delightful & terrible thing. I don't have to sell it, it's almost like my last piece of innocence and childhood, but I thought there's no use clinging to a lost past.

#loss #growingup #nostalgic #remorse #innocent #childhood #princess

Eitten S Oct 2020

How do you know that you’re growing up?

You know you’re grown
When your monsters change
They don’t lurk in closets
And hide underneath beds
Now they stand in the hallways
Bunched up, whispering
Now, they point and gossip
Spreading rumors
You’re not afraid to walk
Upstairs at your grandma’s anymore
You’re not afraid to turn off the lights
Instead, you’re afraid of the rush
to get to the classroom
You’re afraid to go to lunch
You’re afraid to talk to them
So, how you know
When you’re grown
Is when your monsters change

Part 1 in my new series, How Do You Know?

#howdoyouknow #monsters #growingup

Allie Dotson Oct 2020

The wind brings to life all the sounds I dearly miss

Night has fallen long ago and the sun has many hours until it comes
No birds lay awake and the crickets barely stay asleep
The only sound is the swaying of trees.
They dance a waltz behind a girl
playing the same song since she could remember.
The rain hits against the bush that lays just below her window seal
and the occasional swoosh of a car going up the street signals that life is near.
The same girl lays in her bed with tired eyes, trying to finish a book she has just begun.
A familiar feeling of comfort and warmth
as she lays wrapped in two blankets
with two stuffed animals keeping away any fears
The constant snores from her parents floating down the hall and
The laughter leaking out of her brother's bedroom door.
With light streaming in reflected off the living room wall
She finds comfort and peace held in a fragment of time so small
Where dreams start to overlap reality.
You may find the girl
The one who hasn't changed for the past 18 years.
There she will be, laying on her bed with a book in her hand
The trees still remain in a dance
And the flickering eyes still appear to be in a trance.

#growingup #comfort #somethingsstaythesame #neverletgo

Jonathon Wall Oct 2020

The Ladies in My Life

Although I am driven
   Loony by the very
     Existence of the double
       X-chromosomes that live
          Around me, I shall
            Never forsake those most
               Dear to myself, who in
                  Relation are more
                     Intertwined to one
                       Another than DNA.

                     Sometimes there are
                   Altercations which
               Maim our connection and
            Afflict onto us great
         Negativity, rotting the
      Tree we stem from.
   However, this bond shall not
Altogether disintegrate.

Sentiment throughout our
   House of blood helps to
      Alleviate countless
        Nights of conflict, which
           Never cease its constant
              Oscillation, even though
                 Nature has granted fit.

For my sisters and mother

#home #family #growingup #childhood #sister #mom

Lewis Oct 2020

the man behind the curtain

there comes an age where magic must die
when you realise that your heroes are flesh
you know Hollywood lies
and theres no face in the stars
when life has ripened from something so fresh

when life turns grey
and it rains throughout may
and the summer is just always too hot

when you put down those books
and care more about your looks
and if you can get a space in the parking lot

yet I try to find magic in every day
and I agree that life is a gift
I smile at small things like yellow cars, escaping balloons
or your coat getting caught in the lift

but as sure as the burning setting of the sun
someday that curtain must rise
to reveal the frail old man behind
sickly and dull with no light in his eyes

but I have to remember to conjure my own spells
with friends and family and more
travel the lands with stories to tell
of my adventures on a distant shore

but i'll always miss those summer days
with magic in the air and my heart
splashing colours, inspecting insects
running home for my favourite jam tarts

coming of age is bittersweet

#growingup #sad #age #life

Merlie T Oct 2020

I remember these early times

I remember these early times
The first
Downtown in the cold
Lights out.
Adults living like heathens
Teens on the streets
My inspiration
The freedom which comes
from taps on bricks
cold air to put
you right back in your body
Frightening.
It was freedom nonetheless

Growing up in Eugene as young teens we would frequent the downtown bus station where scores of transient teens would congregate to talk of life, meaning, use drugs and debate existence after childhoods of parental neglect.

#eugene #citylife #teens #growingup #comingofage #changes

Jonathan Oct 2020

The Grown Up

His knuckles were knots.
Round, tight bunches,
Tied roughly, taught
By the lessons of men;
Who seem only to brutalize
The beauty of the body.

His heart was chiseled.
Stone in the stead of flesh,
Fixed to a function. Grounded,
Not in hope, but the kiln’s capture.
Heat, the blistering rage, resolved
In all the hand’s heartless work.

His mind was not his. Home;
A house of helplessness. Now,
The mental mutiny made know.
Year's of yearning for youth, only
To forfeit all faith of the future,
In exchange for hard truth.

#adult #growingup #hard #mess

Allie Dotson Aug 2020

1-21

1 2 3

hush little baby
it will be alright

4 5 6

shh its okay
nothing to fear

7 8 9

Don't worry
you're okay

10 11 12

You have learned your lesson
mistakes happen

13 14 15

Don't do that again
You're getting too old

16 17 18

You're not a child anymore
That is not okay

19 20 21

You're on your own

#growingup #life #adult