The Poet X

by Elizabeth Acevedo

I feel too small for all that’s inside me.

I want to break myself open like an egg smacked hard against an edge.

I look and feel like a myth.

I like to look, I hate to be seen.

like you’re a broken clock and they’re trying to translate the ticks.

She’s saying the thoughts I didn’t know anyone else had.

Sharing space, but not words.

What I Didn’t Say to Caridad in Confirmation Class

I will never let anyone see my full heart and destroy it.

In Aman’s Arms