Spoken Word Poem

I was sitting in a classroom

With two good friends

In an after-care program

That took place after school ends.

We were talking just like normal

So I felt right in place

When one of them said something

And I almost felt erased.

She said she’d pick the other friend

That it was Allison who “got her” more

And I’ve only just now realized

What I didn’t know before.

That she’ll never know I “get her”

If I never let her “get me”

I’m always so closed off

So there’s this part that people don’t see.

That they don’t know.

They don’t know.

They don’t know.

That in my head there are

Fireworks

That ricochet off my

Skull

And sometimes they are

Beautiful

But also very

Loud

And those fireworks are

Passion

And I feel them in my

Bones

But they never seem to

Stop

So I always feel a-

lone -

No, not really alone

There are people around me

Always

But they don’t know

What I

Know.

And the fireworks get

bigger

but they never

explode

I’m a tiger in a cage

One that nobody can see

Because that cage is my head

And the tiger is me.

And I know if I could

Let go

It would all turn out just

Fine

But my head won’t let me

Do that

So the tiger waits in

Line.

Because the truth is

Fireworks were not meant to be contained.

What they don’t know, they don’t know, they don’t know,

Is the tiger.

They don’t know.

But I want them to.