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Too Young | Lex Marie

They like to tell me I’m too young

to sit with them at dinnertime

 

I’m seventeen — grouped with kids

who crack suicide jokes

                                                                

                                                  and laugh

 

Maybe I should just take the pills then, huh?

 

They like to tell me I’m too young to be sad

 

“Chica, no tienes por qué llorar. . .”

 

Because it’s crazy to be eighteen

and only wish for your soul

                                                 

                                                  to die

 

Wither away slowly,

swallowed by the earth

 

                                                  like trash

 

But I’m just a kid, right?

I’m too young for shit like that

 

I’m too young to know love

To have the nerve to fall so hard

I can’t even bother to lie

 

I’m too young to get the guy

To be a queen instead of a piece

of cheap plastic in a chess game

 

But I was nineteen — kind and selfless

and wrongfully naïve

 

Fine, just walk all over me

 

Too young for a love

that doesn’t end

                                                  in disaster

 

“Put down that cigarette, young lady”

 

“You’re too young for bad habits”

 

                                                  Am I?

 

Am I too young for

opinions and vices

and unexplainable dreams?

 

Am I too young to let my lungs

burn like raging fire

 

or give my throat a taste

of the seething fury trapped in my heart?

 

                                                  No.

 

I’m not too young to be human

 

Lex Marie is a Texas based, Puerto Rican poet with a calling for sharing her voice with other young women and girls who are in the process of finding themselves through creative endeavors. She is pursuing her masters degree in Library Science at the University of North Texas. She has performed at multiple poetry readings and has plans to continue writing and sharing her work. You can find more of her work on her social media (TikTok: @lexmariepoetry; Instagram: @lexmariepoetry).

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