The Poet X

by Elizabeth Acevedo

Their gazes and words are heavy with all the things they want you to be. It is ungrateful to feel like a burden. It is ungrateful to resent my own birth.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, this place is a place, neither safe nor unsafe, just a means, just a way to get closer to escape.

When I’m told to have faith in the father the son in men and men are the first ones to make me feel so small.

I just needed someone to help me escape from all the silence. I just needed people saying words about all the things that hurt them.

I’ve learned not to be angry. Sometimes the best way to love someone is to let them go.”

Maybe, the only thing that has to make sense about being somebody’s friend is that you help them be their best self on any given day. That you give them a home when they don’t want to be in their own.

I believe you’re strong enough to defend yourself and me at the same time, but I’ll always have your back, and I’ll always protect your heart.”