by Maddie Robin This poem is about the effect society’s heavy expectations has on children and how sometimes, it can feel like we’re drowning in them. I stand at the edge, society surrounding me.
They tell me it’s time, that I should know what to do by now but I do not. I am like a baby bird, being pushed out of the nest to learn to fly too early. My wings are not grown, my eyes are not seeing, and now I am falling, falling, falling. I hit the water hard and fast and with a smack. There are weights all around me, each one heavier than the one before. I cry for help and all they do is tell me to swim, and add more. They expect me to do it all, keep my head up with all of this weight, but I am no Superman. I am still a child and every time I try to loosen them, their hands dig even deeper into my skin. My head goes under. Breath is stolen from me, my lungs are aching. The silence under this water is deafening, almost peaceful, but then the anchors just get heavier. I am running out of air, fighting my body’s instinct to breathe in, still struggling. And I am getting tired. Tired of fighting, tired of struggling, tired of twisting myself just to be what they want. My body stills, and begins to sink slowly, tired, so tired that I begin to breathe in. Water fills my lungs, everything is burning, I am on fire and I open my eyes. And as I see all the other children, drowning in this water just like me, with weights just like mine, I come to a conclusion. We are all products of society, complete with anchors, exhaustion, and water in our lungs. And as spots cloud my vision and I begin to feel cold, I realize that perhaps what they’ve wanted all along isn’t for me to swim despite these weights. But to drown because of them.
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By Mia Kondogiannis Medium: Oil on canvas Date: May 2019 |
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